Bottoms Up
by DARecruit
Summary: Rachel's dads may not be in town when she and fellow Glee Club members have a party at her house or when they perform at the school assembly drunk, but her mother most certainly is. And Shelby is not at all happy with her daughter. Set in same AU as 'Asking For It' and will contain spanking. Tag to S2E14 "Blame It On The Alcohol".
1. Chapter 1

_Summary: Rachel's dads may not be in town when she and fellow Glee Club members have a party at her house or when they perform at the school assembly drunk, but her mother most certainly is. And Shelby is not at all happy with her daughter. Set in same AU as 'Asking For It' and will contain spanking. Tag to S2E14 "Blame It On The Alcohol"._

 _ **Hello Readers! I've got a new story for you! It's been TOO LONG! The miracle of life happened! My wife and I welcomed our daughter in June and I've been a stay-at-home-mom ever since! It's been a huge adjustment and honestly, most days I'm so exhausted by the afternoon that I don't even want to look at my computer let alone try to write. But I've missed it so much. My muse has been with me this weekend and I wanted to post something. This story will be a few chapters long (I'm thinking 3 right now). I've got most of the second chapter finished and hope to have that up soon as well!**_

 _ **In other story news, Chapter 13 of Open Arms has been an absolute nightmare to write. I couldn't for the life of me get anything written for months. I've tried. Then TODAY I opened it and wrote half a page (which is a LOT after this dry spell). If all goes well and my muse sticks with me, I'm hoping to have that chapter posted before the end of the year.**_

 _ **And now, without further ado, I give you—**_

 **Bottoms Up: Chapter One**

Shelby's heels clacked loudly along the deserted hallway of William McKinley High School as she made her way towards the choir room. The phone call she had received from her daughter's Glee coach an hour ago had shocked the mother, to say the least. According to Will Schuester, Rachel had brought alcohol onto school grounds and consumed it with the rest of the Glee Club right before taking the stage to perform a song for the Alcohol Awareness Week Assembly. The number was abruptly cut short when several of the kids threw up on stage. By some miracle, none of them had gotten into official trouble with the school; apparently the principal believed it to be part of the act. Will confessed on the phone that he didn't have the heart to correct Principal Figgins, but he also didn't feel right letting the kids get away with their actions without any consequences. So, he decided to let the parents handle it.

Shelby had left work as soon as she could; she had had to find coverage for her last class of the day and print out a sign to put on the auditorium door to let her Vocal Adrenaline kids know that practice was cancelled for the day. It had then taken her forty-five minutes to get to her daughter's school because of traffic and she had spent the entire ride seething.

What had Rachel been _thinking?_ Shelby knew the girl knew better than this. The girl's fathers, Hiram and LeRoy Berry, had taught her better. And Shelby herself had taught her better. She had become one hundred percent committed to her role as parent after that fateful day in October when Rachel had asked Shelby to spank her for stealing. That had been the one and only time Shelby had given her daughter a spanking, but that punishment had been the catalyst to accepting Shelby fully into the family.

It had been nearly four months since then and in that time, Shelby had her parental rights reinstated and shared custody with the Berry men. Rachel lived primarily with her fathers but spent almost every weekend and at least one week a month with Shelby so she could experience life with her mom. For the most part, Rachel was a well-behaved teenager. She had her moments, of course, but Shelby was usually able to quell any attitude or misbehavior with a few stern words. And if that didn't work, Shelby had no problem sending her girl off to do extra chores with several stinging swats as a reminder to shape up.

The girl had more than just a few swats coming her way today, that was for certain. Shelby sighed at the thought; this was not how she wanted to start the week with her daughter. The Berry men had left Friday afternoon and weren't coming home until the end of the following weekend; Hiram had a conference to go to in California and the pair decided to make a vacation of it and go on a second honeymoon. They left their sixteen-year-old daughter in the capable hands of her mother. Rachel had asked if she could spend the weekend at her friend Kurt's house, mentioning that they had a science project due and it would be easier if they worked on it all weekend, and Shelby had agreed. Rachel hadn't gotten home until just before curfew last night and they had little time to spend together this morning before having to go to school. Shelby had been looking forward to this evening when she and Rachel could relax and spend some time together. She still planned on spending time with her child, but they'd have to get this nasty business out of the way first.

Shelby walked through the door to the choir room and her eyes immediately fell on the only person there. Rachel was staring down at her hands transfixed and jumped when Shelby called her name.

"H-Hi, Mommy," the girl said, trying her best to sound relaxed. Inside, however, her stomach was doing somersaults while her heart tried to beat right out of her chest.

Shelby raised an eyebrow, leveling her child with a stern glare. "Don't you 'hi, Mommy' me, young lady. You're in a lot of trouble."

Rachel ducked her head and returned to staring at her hands, her stomach now dropping all the way to her feet. Her mother was mad. Furious even. She was under no illusion that she wouldn't be punished for this incident and all too certain that she would not be able to talk her mom out of it like she could have it if were her dads. Tears stung her eyes as all of the glorious plans she had had for herself and Shelby this week slipped through her fingers.

"Where is Mr. Schuester?" Shelby asked her troublemaker.

Rachel simply pointed towards the office at the far end of the room with its glass window and door without looking up. Shelby nodded and headed in that direction, pausing to knock on the doorframe before entering the office.

Will looked up at the sound and offered a small smile to the pretty brunette woman standing in his doorway. "Shelby, hi. Come on in," he said, gesturing to one of the chairs in front of his desk.

"I can't stay long. I want to get out of here so I can deal with my miscreant. I just wanted to say thank you for calling me—and for not taking this matter to Principal Figgins," Shelby replied.

"They're all good kids. I couldn't bring myself to turn them in. I don't want to see this one mistake blemish their permanent records. They were trying to have fun and went about it the wrong way," Will said.

"You could say that again," Shelby grumbled, turning to check on her daughter. The girl was just as she left her.

"If it makes you feel any better, Rachel was the most repentant one of the bunch," Will offered.

Shelby scoffed. "I'm sure she was. She's the guiltiest one!"

"Shelby, maybe this isn't my place, but…don't be too hard on her. She wants to fit in so badly. Peer pressure is hard to overcome sometimes."

"This isn't the first time that Rachel has let her peers influence her actions. She needs to learn that just because others are doing something doesn't mean she has to as well—especially when she knows it is wrong," Shelby answered.

Will nodded. "You're right, of course. It wasn't my place."

Shelby gave the man a warm smile. "I'm glad Rachel has a teacher who cares so much about her. And I know from personal experience that it sucks to have to tell on a kid to their parents. You did the right thing here, Will. Rachel and the rest of those kids made some really serious mistakes. They need to be held accountable for that. And I'm glad you decided to let the parents handle it and not involve the school. That isn't lost on me, as I'm sure it isn't lost on the other parents."

"Thanks, Shelby. I—That means a lot…Thank you."

"Any time," Shelby smiled. "I'm going to take Rachel home now and deal with her. I'll see you later."

The mother waved as she turned to leave but then stopped. "Oh, just a heads up," she mentioned, "Rachel isn't going to be participating in Glee for at least a week after this stunt. It might be longer depending on her attitude. I'll email you when I've made my final decision on the matter. I'd appreciate it if you'd keep her from joining practices during that time, as I'm sure she'll try to push the limits on this."

"O-Of course, Shelby," Will agreed. He had no doubt that Rachel would test the boundaries as Shelby said. He wasn't looking forward to the inevitable arguments he'd face from the tiny diva, but the thought of Shelby finding out he gave in to Rachel's demands scared him a lot more than the teen's dramatics ever could.

"Thanks again, Will," Shelby offered as farewell.

Rachel heard the unmistakable click-clack of her mother's high heels moving towards her and felt her body stiffen. She was going to have to go home with her in a minute and she wanted nothing more than the earth to open and swallow her whole.

"Let's go, Rachel," came Shelby's order.

Rachel winced at her mother's tone, taking a deep breath to prepare herself. She stood and grabbed her book bag, her eyes trained on the floor, and immediately felt her mom's fingers wrap securely around her upper arm. She was then led towards the exit. As they passed her teacher's open office door, Rachel allowed herself to look up. Mr. Schue met her eyes and gave her a sympathetic smile. The teen narrowed her eyes at her teacher and looked away. Oh sure, _now_ he felt bad for her. Where was that sympathy when he called all of their parents? It was his fault she was going home with an angry mother. Principal Figgins hadn't made a big deal out of the situation, why did Mr. Schue have to?

The petite teen took small comfort in the knowledge that the rest of her teammates were in similar boats with their own parents. Being the last one to be picked up, Rachel had witnessed each one of her teammates squirm under their parents' stern glares and scoldings. Many of them were dragged from the choir room by angry mothers and fathers just as Rachel was now. As much as Rachel hated the idea of being in trouble, knowing she had her mother here to parent her made the girl's heart soar.

By the time the two got home, Rachel wasn't feeling nearly as warm and fuzzy about her mom taking her parenting role as seriously as she did. Shelby opened the front door and sent Rachel into the house with two sharp spanks that made the teen gasp and immediately reach back to ease the sting.

"Find a corner to park your nose in, Rachel. I need some time to collect myself," Shelby ordered, shutting the door behind them and setting her daughter's book bag on the floor.

Rachel spun to stare at her mother, a shocked expression plastered across her face. "Wha—Mom! But I'm not—"

" _Now_ , Rachel," Shelby demanded, her hand connecting once more with her child's jean-clad backside.

"Ow!" Rachel squealed, scurrying over to the same corner she was placed in all those weeks ago when she had confessed to stealing a stranger's shopping bag as part of a dare. The last time she had found herself in this position, she had been mostly amused (and perhaps a little annoyed) at being forced to stare at the boring span of wall directly in front of her. This time, however, Rachel felt very much chastised. Her mom hadn't even said anything to her yet, but her insides squirmed with a mixture of regret and anxiety knowing she was in a heap of trouble.

Left with just her thoughts, Rachel began to wonder with some trepidation what her mother had in store for her. Rachel wasn't one to get into trouble often, but she had found herself on the receiving end of several lectures and scoldings from Shelby in recent months. Most of the time it was left at that, but when Rachel was too mouthy or didn't follow a rule, her mom would assign extra chores to reinforce the lesson. Would Shelby give her extra chores this time? And how many would she have to do? It was bad enough when her mom made her scrub the toilets for a snarky attitude; what she did today was a lot worse than a simple bad mood. What if she made her clean the whole _house_ from top to bottom? It would suck, but Rachel supposed it wouldn't be all that bad. Not really.

It could be worse, she supposed. Shelby could ground her, keep her from hanging out with friends or—Rachel gasped. _What if she bans me from Glee?_

 _She can't! She can't, she can't, she can't,_ Rachel thought to herself. _She knows how important is it to me._

But her mom had considered it before when Rachel stole. Rachel had been shocked her mother could even suggest such a thing, but Shelby insisted it was a fitting punishment given her reaction. Rachel had then cried and pleaded with her mother not to take Glee away…and Shelby relented.

That was the moment that Rachel had succeeded in convincing her mother to spank her. Rachel's heart rate increased as she thought back to that Saturday in October. What if her mom decided to handle this situation in the same way? But she couldn't, could she? Rachel had asked—practically _begged_ —for that punishment that day. Her mom hadn't wanted to at first, and when she finally agreed, Rachel had to tell her how to do it! No, surely that was a one-time thing. Because Rachel asked for it. Besides, Shelby hadn't brought it up since then. Okay, sure, she doled out swats whenever she felt Rachel needed them—and yes, they hurt plenty—but that wasn't the same thing. That was just a mom thing, something Shelby did to make Rachel aware that she had crossed the line.

Rachel knew she had crossed the line today. But her mother wouldn't _spank_ her for that…right? _No,_ the girl reasoned. Her mom had said that day that spankings were a childish punishment and Rachel was far too old for it. She had only agreed to do it because Rachel had felt so guilty for what she had done and didn't know how else to clear her conscience. She wasn't feeling guilty about today. Sure, she knew she was in the wrong, and she was upset that she was now in trouble and had made her mother angry, but she didn't feel the need to be absolved for her actions. No, her mother couldn't spank her. She just _couldn't!_

On the other hand, Rachel had been sent to stand in the corner. The only other time she found herself here was when she was waiting for her mom to spank her. She had been over the woman's knees while her mom gave her a few weak swats to her covered bottom. Rachel had wanted it to be done properly and told her mother as much. She confessed to looking up how to give a spanking online and was sent to the corner while her mom did some 'research' of her own. The spanking she then received had been everything she had been asking for, and then some. She hated every second of it; she sobbed her heart out over her mother's knee while her bare butt was painted a bright red. It was both the best and worst moment in her life, as crazy as that sounded. It hurt and she never wanted to repeat it, but it was in that moment that Shelby went from being her birth mother to being her mom. And for that, she would be forever grateful.

Rachel squirmed at the memory and her right hand snaked back to rub at the faintest of stings left from her mother's earlier swats. It had been nearly five minutes since her mom's hand made contact with her bottom, but the more the teen thought about it, the more her cheeks seemed to hurt.

As the minutes ticked past, Rachel began to wonder if she had been wrong. Maybe her mom really _was_ going to spank her. Why else would she make her stand in the corner and wait? And Shelby had said she needed time to collect herself. Collect herself for what?

Rachel sighed and rested her head against the cool surface of the wall in front of her. It wouldn't be so bad, would it? If it came right down to it and she _had_ to choose between being banned from Glee or face a spanking, surely the spanking was the preferable option. It would feel like she had sat on an open flame and she would cry, but it would be over within a matter of minutes. And as soon as it was done, her mom would hold her and kiss her and tell her everything was forgiven. They could move on from this and everything would be back to normal by this evening when she went to bed. She probably wouldn't even be sore by then!

Shelby watched her daughter from the archway, leaning up against the frame, and contemplated her next moves. She was going to spank the girl. That decision had been made the moment she had found out what her teenager had been up to today. The mother had been furious when Will had first called her; she spent the whole ride to McKinley in a state of angry shock. She couldn't believe Rachel had pulled such an idiotic stunt. Bringing alcohol to school and then drinking it! What on Earth had her daughter been thinking? Where had she even _gotten_ it?

By the time she arrived at the school, she had cooled down tremendously. She was still angry but she no longer felt like she would turn her errant child over her knee as soon as she saw her. Her resolve was tested when she walked into the choir room and Rachel met her gaze and gave her a casual 'Hi Mommy'. Shelby wanted nothing more than to haul her kid out of that seat and deliver a dozen stinging swats on the spot. She didn't, of course. It wouldn't have been fair to Rachel. Nor would it have been fair for Shelby to start spanking the moment she got her troublemaker home. She needed to be calm when she handed down this punishment; it was the reason she had Rachel stand in the corner. She needed time.

And now she had had it. Rachel had been standing in the corner for a little over ten minutes now. That was long enough. Now it was time she got to the bottom of this. As much as Shelby knew Rachel deserved the punishment coming to her, it didn't make it any easier for her to carry out.

It hadn't exactly been easy to deliver that first spanking to her daughter, but at least with that one Shelby had the assurance of knowing Rachel was completely on board with the decision. It had been the teenager's choice, after all. She had asked Shelby to administer it—demanded it, even. Shelby had finally agreed because she could see how much Rachel was hurting. Rachel had been asking for so much more than a simple spanking—she was asking for her mother.

 _Well, she has me now,_ Shelby thought, unable to hide her smile at her daughter's antics. The girl had her forehead pressed against the corner as she rubbed absentmindedly at her bottom. Shelby rolled her eyes knowing that her little drama queen wasn't still feeling the effects from the three spanks she had administered, but the sight was cute nonetheless.

Shelby sighed and pushed herself upright, calling for Rachel and startling the girl for the second time that day. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I didn't mean to scare you," she apologized.

Rachel jumped and spun to face her mom, her heart beating a fast tempo inside her ribcage. She chanced a glance at her mother's face, trying to gauge her mood. She was relieved to see that her mom didn't appear to be angry any more. That was a good sign for her.

"C'mon, love, let's go into the living room and have a talk," Shelby said, holding her hand out for her daughter.

Rachel hesitated, a bit surprised at her mother's casual behavior. Even if her mom wasn't angry any more, she had expected her to remain stern. The teen took the proffered hand and allowed herself to be led into the living room. Maybe she had been worrying for nothing and her first prediction had been right. Her mom was acting as if everything was back to normal. Surely that meant she was going to treat this as she would any other transgression and Rachel was facing nothing worse than a few extra chores. She could live with that.

Shelby took a seat on the sofa and pulled Rachel down next to her, glad to see the girl appeared more at ease. This was going to be a serious discussion and she had no doubt Rachel would hate what Shelby was going to dish out, but she wanted to do this as calmly as possible.

"Alright, kid," Shelby sighed, patting the girl's knee comfortingly, "Walk me through today. I want to know what you were thinking when you decided to bring alcohol to school and drink it with your friends."

Rachel winced. Her mom's tone was conversational but still managed to make her stomach flip-flop. What could she say that wouldn't make her mother angry with her all over again?

Shelby gave the girl a moment to collect her thoughts but spoke up once it became clear that she wasn't going to offer up an explanation willingly.

"You need to talk to me, kid. Where did you even get the alcohol?" she asked.

Rachel squirmed and examined her fingernails. "Rachel," came her mother's warning.

"I, um…in m-my dads' liquor cabinet," the girl confessed.

"Their liquor cabinet?" Shelby repeated, raising her eyebrow. "I know for a fact they keep that locked. Did you break into it?"

The teen's eyes snapped up to meet Shelby's before flicking back down. "No, I…It wasn't—I didn't…It—It was unlocked," she stammered.

"And so you decided to take advantage of that? Rachel, you _know_ better," Shelby scolded.

"Mom, I—"

"When did you come up with this plan? And when did you go to the house to get the alcohol? You were supposed to be at Kurt's all weekend. Did you lie to me, young lady?"

Rachel had to think fast. She did lie, but her mother couldn't know that! Shelby had been angry enough finding out about the events at school, she didn't need to know that Rachel had _also_ been drinking over the weekend at a party she threw in her parent-free house while her mom thought she was hard at work on a science project at Kurt's all weekend.

"No, I didn't, I—I _was_ with Kurt but we, uh…we hung out with the rest of the Glee kids on Saturday and some of them were complaining about having to sing at the assembly and how stupid the whole alcohol awareness week was in general and—I mean, I guess, uh…one thing led to another and someone said that we could make it suck less if we—um—if we had alcohol. Everyone was saying how much fun drinking could be and I, uh…I had never drank before or anything and, well…Puck pointed out that my dads were out of town and he said I should, uh…borrow from their supply. So I did that yesterday before coming—coming here," Rachel stammered, a bit in awe of herself for explaining enough without giving up the most incriminating details. She knew her words would make her mom angry, but not nearly as much as she'd be if she knew the whole story.

Shelby remained silent as her daughter sputtered her way through her answer. As soon as the girl finished, Shelby sighed and said, "So let me get this straight. Your friends told you to take advantage of your fathers' absence and steal their liquor so you all could have a bit of fun during your performance at school _and you did?"_

"No, I—I didn't steal!" Rachel exclaimed.

"No? Then what do you call taking something that isn't yours? 'Cause that's stealing in my book, kid. And you and I have been over that before, if I recall correctly," Shelby said pointedly.

Rachel squirmed as she was once again reminded of that October day. But she hadn't stolen, not this time. "I was going to replace it, though," she said.

"So that's supposed to make it okay?" Shelby demanded, her voice rising.

"No," Rachel mumbled with a shake of her head. Her mother was back to being angry and the girl could feel that little glimmer of hope she had had of walking away with a relatively mild punishment rapidly slipping through her fingers.

"And how exactly were you planning on replacing everything? So help me, Rachel, if you have a fake ID, I promise I'll make sitting down a distant memory for you," Shelby threatened in a stern tone.

Rachel swallowed audibly and felt her face grow warm at her mother's threat. With nine words, Shelby had made it exceedingly clear that spanking was not off the table in her eyes. Knowing that it was a very real possibility unnerved Rachel. It was one thing when she had asked for it—she was prepared for that outcome and accepted it. She had even _wanted_ it. She didn't want it today. And her earlier feelings that it wouldn't be so bad if it happened were no where to be found; instead, Rachel wanted to stay as far away from her mother's left hand as humanly possible.

"No, Mom, I don't!" she promised hastily.

"You better not. I meant every word," Shelby declared.

"Mommy, please! I swear!" Rachel whined, hating that she sounded so childish. "Puck said he'd take care of it!"

"I see. We'll discuss that more later, young lady. Right now I want you to tell me how many bottles you stole from your dads. And what were they?"

The girl rankled at her mother's insistence that she had stolen. She hadn't stolen. She…borrowed without asking. And she had had every intention of holding Puck to his promise—her dads would have never known. It all came back to Mr. Schue. If he hadn't ratted them all out to their parents, Rachel wouldn't be dealing with this right now. She could have simply put the new bottles back in the cabinet, locked it up, and neither her dads nor her mom would have been any the wiser.

"Rachel, I asked you a question," Shelby reminded the teen. The woman was used to this type of stall tactic from her students; they all thought that if they simply didn't answer, she would let the matter drop. In all of her years of teaching, Shelby had never once backed down; she wasn't about to start now, even if the culprit was her daughter.

"God, I don't know, Mom! I just grabbed stuff and poured it in an empty juice jug," Rachel returned, her nerves and anger getting the better of her.

"Excuse me?" Shelby raised an eyebrow at her daughter's tone.

"What does it matter? It's not like my dads aren't going to find out now. They can replace it with whatever the hell they want! This is all so _stupid_ anyway. You and Mr. Schue are making a big deal out of this when no one else is!" the teen exploded, jumping up from the sofa with every intention of storming off to her room.

Shelby was shocked at her child's outburst, but that didn't slow her reflexes in the least. Rachel had barely taken three steps before Shelby was up and had a vice-like grip on her arm. Without a word, Shelby turned Rachel to the side and landed half a dozen rapid-fire swats to her bottom. She then turned the girl back to face her, leveling her with a stern gaze.

Rachel regretted her words the moment they were out of her mouth, but by then she had begun her storm out and that wasn't something she could just _stop_ mid-way. Her mother, however, had no such qualms about stopping it, and her way was painful. Tears stung her eyes and threatened to fall as she wiped at them futilely.

"I don't know who you think you're talking to, Rachel Barbra, but let me remind you that I am the mom and you do not get to speak to me that way. Now I suggest you sit back down and finish this conversation with me calmly before you find yourself over my knee for a lesson on being respectful. And I'd really hate to have to do that when you've already got a spanking coming your way for today's actions," Shelby admonished.

Rachel shook her head frantically as several tears trickled down her cheeks. There it was, the sentence that she had hoped would never come. _So much for staying away from Mom's hand,_ she lamented.

"Now, let's talk about what you just said. Yes, your dads _are_ going to find out. I will not keep this big of a transgression a secret from them. They deserve to know that you stole their alcohol, took it to school to drink with your friends, and were caught," Shelby said as she returned to the sofa, pulling Rachel down with her.

"Mom, I didn't steal. I really was going to replace everything," Rachel sniffed, wiggling in an attempt to find a position that didn't hurt as much. It was no use, so she tried to ignore the throbbing pain radiating from her rear.

"It is stealing, Rachel—and the fact that you don't see that concerns me."

"But—"

"You took that alcohol from your fathers' liquor cabinet. Whether it was locked or not doesn't matter, you aren't supposed to go in there, period. Would you go into your dads' wallets and take money from them?" Shelby continued.

"No," Rachel answered.

"No, you wouldn't, because it's wrong. And it would be wrong even if you intended to return the money at a later date, would it not?" Shelby pressed, relieved to see understanding dawning on her child's face.

"Yes," the girl relented, refusing to meet her mother's eyes.

"Exactly. There is no difference between that and what you did, Rachel," Shelby reiterated.

The woman noticed the uptick in tears cascading down her child's face and decided to move on to the next point. She didn't want to have this conversation any more than her teenager did and didn't see the point in belaboring it; she wanted to get this over with so they could enjoy the rest of their evening together.

Rachel couldn't stop the tears that were now freely falling. She had been so angry a moment ago and now she was just sad. This is not how she wanted to begin her week with Shelby. The girl always looked forward to her time with her mom. It didn't matter what they were doing, whether they were singing show tunes or watching Barbra Streisand movies, or she was helping with dinner or chores around the house, Rachel just enjoyed being with her mom.

Now she wasn't at all sure how things were going to be between the two of them. This wasn't like the times when she did something minor and Shelby scolded or gave her a chore or even a swat or two (she had already gotten more swats in the last thirty-five minutes than she had in the past four months combined). This wasn't even like that first spanking. Shelby hadn't acted differently towards Rachel any of those times, but Shelby had never been all that angry either. Not like she had been—and still was—today. Today would be her first ever, honest-to-God _real_ punishment from her mother—real punishment from any of her parents, if she was being completely honest with herself. Would that make a difference? Would Shelby really want to spend time with Rachel this week after what she had done?

"I know you think I'm making a bigger deal out of this than it needs to be," Shelby said, interrupting Rachel's worried thoughts, "But it _is_ a big deal, Rach. What you did was not only—"

"Are you still going to spend time with me this week?" the girl blurted before she could stop herself.

"Wha—Yeah, of course we'll spend time together, silly. I've got you all week," Shelby answered, caught off guard.

"No, that's not—I meant because of, you know…" Rachel trailed off uncertainly.

"Oh," Shelby said as the pieces came together. "Baby, I love you. You made bad choices today but that doesn't change how I feel about you. Nothing you could do will ever change that. You're going to be punished for your actions and then we are going to have a nice evening together. We can snuggle up in bed and watch a movie or I'll sing with you, we can play a game—whatever you want. Okay?"

Rachel let out a tiny sob and flung herself into Shelby's arms. "Please, Mom, can we get this over with?" she cried, exhausted.

The teenager's emotions had been all over the place in a span of forty minutes. She felt like a yo-yo, first thinking she wouldn't be spanked, then that she would, back to not again, and finally knowing it was absolutely going to happen. Her acceptance of that fact changed just as quickly; one minute she was okay with it and then she wasn't. She was okay with it in this moment knowing it wouldn't affect the rest of her week, but she wanted to get it over with before she changed her mind. Again.

"I promise we will in a minute, love. There's still one more thing we have to go over," Shelby said, rubbing soothing circles on her child's back. She waited for Rachel to calm down a bit before pulling away and looking into the girl's eyes.

Shelby took a calming breath, preparing herself for the inevitable backlash her words would incite. "Rach, there's not going to be any Glee rehearsals for you this week. You're not grounded, you can do whatever you want after school—go to the mall, coffee shop, spend some time here by yourself before I get home—except for Glee. Now, I've already told Mr. Schuester that you'll be out all week so—"

Rachel's tears stopped abruptly; she couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had resigned herself to being spanked (even though she didn't feel guilty _at all!_ ) and now her mom wanted to take away Glee too? That was _not_ how this was supposed to have happened—it was supposed to be one or the other!

"What?! MOM! You can't—That's not—You said I was getting a spanking!" she sputtered.

"You are," Shelby confirmed.

"But I—I thought _that_ was my punishment."

"It's part of it. You are receiving a spanking for taking alcohol that you stole from your fathers to school and drinking it with your teammates before your performance. You could have been suspended if your principal realized what was really going on. Hell, you could have been _expelled!_ On top of that, Rachel, you and I have dealt with stealing before. Clearly the message didn't sink in with the first spanking, so this time you're losing Glee as well," the mother explained gently.

"But that one shouldn't count! I asked for it!" Rachel exclaimed.

"You may have asked for that one, Rachel, but you still earned it—just as you have earned the one today. I know your fathers and I have talked to you at length about staying true to yourself and what you know to be right even when others try to convince you otherwise. You didn't do that that day at the mall and you _certainly_ didn't do that today. So as much as you hate it and don't want it to happen, you are going to be spanked and you are not going to Glee this week. And I truly hope that this punishment will help you remember right from wrong and teach you not to let your friends talk you into making bad decisions," Shelby lectured.

"Please, I won't drink—or steal—ever again. Don't take away Glee! Please, Mom, the spanking is enough," Rachel pleaded.

"Rachel—"

"It's not even _fair_ to do both. It's supposed to be one or the other! Doing both is just—it's cruel and unusual punishment!" the girl ranted.

"It's four days, Rach," Shelby rolled her eyes at her daughter's dramatics. "Honestly I'm being kind here. If you were on _my_ team, you'd be out on your fanny faster than you could sing _Do Re Mi_."

"Kind?! You might as well tar and feather me, now that'd be kind!"

Shelby placed a hand over her face in order to hide the huge smile that had broken out across it. Sometimes Rachel was just too dramatic, even for her. She quickly schooled her features so she could look her daughter in the eye.

"Sorry, kid, I'm all out of tar and feathers," she said evenly.

Rachel gave the woman a scathing look and Shelby sighed. "I know you think otherwise, Rachel, but Glee isn't the end-all-be-all. It won't kill you to miss a week."

"Is that what you tell your soulless automatons in Vocal Adrenaline?" Rachel muttered under her breath as she crossed her arms and flopped back against the couch cushions.

"Not soulless. Disciplined," Shelby deadpanned. "Take this week and focus on yourself. Find something you're just as passionate about. Your whole world revolves around that club and it's not healthy."

Rachel _wanted_ to tell her mother that that was rich coming from her, but Shelby's earlier threat about discussing respect rang in her ears and the teen bit her lip instead.

"I also want you to think about the type of people you want to associate yourself with. You're a good kid, Rachel, but you've let yourself be led into a fair amount of trouble by your teammates. I told you last time and I'll say it again—real friends wouldn't ask you to do these things for them. You need to take some time and decide if they are worth it," the mother finished.

"Mom, please. I get it," Rachel whined. "I won't listen to what my friends tell me anymore. I really will think about the consequences. But _please_ don't spank me and take away Glee."

"Rachel—"

"Why can't you just do one? Please?"

"Because I 'just did one' last time and here we are dealing with the same issue four months later. Spanking alone clearly wasn't enough to get through to you, so this time your punishment is more severe," Shelby said.

"Well then…shouldn't you just take away Glee? If the—the spanking didn't work...last time?" Rachel countered, changing tactics.

She was feeling immensely pleased with herself for figuring out the loophole. Why hadn't she thought of this before? If she could convince her mom not to spank her, Rachel could essentially get off scot-free! Shelby had told her earlier that she was free to do as she pleased after school, except go to Glee—but Shelby would be busy with her own after-school rehearsals and wouldn't have to know what her daughter was up to! It was the perfect plan!

Shelby raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow and shook her head. She saw right through her daughter's ploy. "Nice try, kid, but you're still getting that spanking."

"But why?" the teen whined as her hopes were dashed.

"Because you had no right to go into your fathers' liquor cabinet and take anything, let alone take it to school to share with your friends. Drinking at your age is dangerous—not to mention illegal—and drinking at school is just plain dumb. The consequences you would have faced had you been caught would have been a lot more lasting and damaging to you than my hand smacking your bare behind," Shelby said matter-of-factly.

"Mommy," Rachel scowled even as her face turned beet red in embarrassment. Why did her mom have to _say_ it that way? It was bad enough that Shelby told her she was going to be spanked, she didn't need to mention it in such detail.

"I want you to think about this, Rachel. What do you think would have happened if you had been suspended—or God forbid, expelled—for your stunt today?" the mother asked.

Rachel gave her mom a blank stare. She knew the woman would _kill_ her…but she didn't think that was the answer she was looking for. Giving up, the girl shrugged.

"It would go on your permanent record. You want to go to NYADA in a year and a half, right? Well, that dream would have gone right down the drain if Mr. Schuester had decided to handle this through Principal Figgins and not the parents. Your future, ruined, for what? A few minutes of fun with your friends? A little buzz? Is that really worth it?"

Shelby felt like a broken record. She was essentially saying the same thing over and over in slightly different ways. But she was also aware of the fact that Rachel hadn't been listening to what she had been saying those other times. One look at the teen now, however, and Shelby could tell her words had finally sunk in.

Rachel could only nod as she bit her lip and swallowed around the large lump in her throat that threatened to undo her. She heard her mother's scolding loud and clear that time. Her stomach churned as the realization of what her actions today could have meant for her future overwhelmed her. It was almost a relief to hear her mom speak her next words.

"Okay, Rachel, it's time for you to head upstairs. I want you to change out of those clothes and then I'd like you to stand in a corner in my room and wait for me. I'll be up shortly and we can take care of this," Shelby ordered, her tone calm but firm.

She watched her daughter climb the stairs with a mixture of relief and dread. Now that Rachel was out of sight, Shelby wasn't feeling anywhere near as confident as she had let on. It was the main reason she had sentenced the teen to the corner for the second time in the last hour. Shelby knew she couldn't go upstairs and walk into her bedroom to see that little girl sitting on the perfectly made bed waiting for her mean mommy to come tan her backside. She'd crumble before she even started and that's not what Rachel needed.

* * *

 _ **And that's it for this chapter! The spanking will happen in the following chapter and it's pretty detailed. I wanted to explore both mother and daughter's thoughts before, during, and after, and that really stretched it out.**_

 _ **Please let me know what you thought of this! I love reviews!**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello Dear Readers! I have the second chapter! This took me for-freaking-EVER (probably don't have to tell you that). This story has been a pain in the neck to write! It's a lot of write, write, write, save, erase, write, undo, erase, save, undo, write...you get the point. I'm so excited to have this chapter done and posted! I hope you enjoy it!**

 **Happy 2018 and happy reading!**

 **Love from,  
DARecruit**

* * *

 **Bottoms Up: Chapter Two**

Rachel stepped into the relative safety of her bedroom and shut the door, leaning up against it with a dejected sigh. She couldn't believe how the events of the day had panned out. When she woke up this morning, she was excited about all of the possibilities the day held. First, she was finally free of the hangover that had been plaguing her all of Sunday. But far more importantly, Saturday night had been epic and the Glee kids left in high spirits (not to mention drunk off them), and Rachel was hopeful that they'd be…well, if not her friend, than at least friendlier towards her now. She figured bringing her juice jug cocktail to school and sharing with the group before the performance would only help her chances of that happening. Things had been going so well…until Brittany and Santana threw up midway through _Tik Tok_. It all went to shit after that, and now Rachel was getting ready to have her butt busted for all her trouble. If she had known this morning that _this_ was how her day would turn out, she never would've gotten out of bed!

Rachel's thoughts were abruptly cut short at the sound of her mother coming up the stairs. The girl silently thanked the squeaky step near the bottom of the staircase as she jumped into action. She shed her jeans and black swoop neck t-shirt in record time, grabbing for the clothes she had worn last night before flinging her door open. She hurried into her mother's bedroom, hopping every other step as she tugged on her favorite pair of sweatpants. Rachel darted into the nearest corner, pulling the oversized McKinley shirt over her head. She just got her arms through the sleeves when she heard her mom walk into the room.

Shelby took the stairs one at a time in a futile attempt to delay the inevitable. She was several steps from the landing when she saw her daughter scramble out of her room in only her bra and undies. It took all of her self control not to laugh at the sight of Rachel hopping down the hall as she tried to get one leg and then the other into her pants and pull them up. As soon as Rachel vanished into the master bedroom, Shelby let herself chuckle. It helped relieve some of the tension she had built up at the thought of what she was about to do.

She entered her bedroom in time to see her daughter's shirt fall into place as her arms came to settle at her sides. She could hear Rachel's heavy breathing and saw her stiffen at her arrival. Deciding not to say anything, Shelby went about changing out of her work clothes and into her worn-but-unbelievably-comfy purple plaid pajama bottoms and a plain gray v-neck.

The mother then moved to her bed, her stomach tied up in knots, and began to take the multitude of pillows off of it, leaving two for her to lean against and one for Rachel to hold on to. Shelby settled into the center of the bed and looked once more at her daughter.

Shelby Corcoran was known among the students at Carmel High School to be a hard ass. She didn't take lip or excuses from her English students and certainly not from her VA kids. Crying did not sway her. Her word was law and she never went back on it. She was a rock. Except, of course, for when it came to that tiny teen with her nose in the corner.

How was it that one kid could throw her off her game so much? That little girl right there could send Shelby reeling and make her question everything. She could anger her, confuse her, and delight her all in the same breath. And with just one look, Rachel could turn tough-as-nails Coach Corcoran into a big pile of Mom goo.

Shelby sighed and shook her head—she had wasted enough time. She had to get going and carry out her sentence. It wasn't fair to Rachel to keep her waiting much longer, and if Shelby didn't do it now, she never would. _Get a grip, Corcoran,_ she scolded herself.

Rachel had been on pins and needles since her mom entered the room. Every sound the woman made seemed to be amplified by a thousand and it took all of Rachel's self control not to turn and see what she was doing. The minutes dragged on and the teen felt certain she would go gray while she waited in this corner. What was her mom _doing?_ Couldn't she get _on_ with it already?

"Rachel, come here," Shelby called.

The girl startled at the sudden sound of her mother's voice and spun around to glare at the woman, her hands finding their way to her hips. "Do you have to _do_ that?" she demanded, stomping her foot.

Shelby felt a pang of guilt when Rachel jumped at being startled once more and opened her mouth to apologize, but one look at her daughter's face and stance as she turned to glare at her had Shelby laughing instead.

"It's not funny!" Rachel growled, stung by her mother's laughter.

"No, Rach, I'm not—"

"This is the third time you've scared the crap out of me today," the teen whined in a hurt tone.

"Oh baby, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," Shelby said sincerely. "Come here, love."

Rachel remained rooted to her spot. She folded her arms protectively across her chest and refused to look at her mother. Shelby was off the bed in an instant, moving to where her daughter stood pouting. She engulfed the girl in a big hug, holding her close and planting a kiss to her forehead.

"I'm sorry for scaring you, baby—all three times. None were intentional," she apologized, adding a second kiss to her child's head.

"I hate when people sneak up on me," Rachel sulked, turning her head so her cheek rested against her mother's chest.

"I don't like that either," Shelby agreed in a soft tone as she rubbed Rachel's back.

"And laugh at me," the girl added, her words muffled by Shelby's shirt.

Rachel's words pierced Shelby's heart like a hot knife. Shelby moved a hand to either side of Rachel's shoulders as she took a step back so she could meet the girl's eyes.

"Hey," Shelby said, ducking down to be more on Rachel's level, "Sweetheart, you know I wasn't laughing _at_ you, don't you? I would never laugh at your expense."

Rachel tried to look away but Shelby reached out to cup her chin, forcing her to keep eye contact. "When you turned to yell at me, the look you gave me and your posture were adorable. I couldn't help but laugh. There are a million things that you do on a daily basis that melt my heart and bring me joy. That was one of those times. I laughed because I was happy. And I'm happy because you're an amazing kid, Rachel— _my_ amazing kid—and I get to be in your life and be your mom."

Rachel had tears in her eyes by the time Shelby was finished speaking and crashed into her mother, knocking the wind out of Shelby. Shelby wrapped her arms securely around her girl, feeling herself turning into that pile of goo as Rachel nestled her head into the crook of her neck and twisted the fingers of her right hand into the hem of the back of her shirt.

The sixteen-year-old would have been content to stay just as they were for the rest of the night, but her mother had other plans. Shelby cleared her throat, breaking up the peaceful silence that had fallen over the pair, and tried to pull away from the hug. Rachel held on tighter. Thinking quickly, the girl snuggled even closer to the woman as she tilted her head up to flash big, chocolaty doe eyes.

Shelby shook her head and averted her gaze from her daughter's not-so-subtle manipulation tactic. "C'mon, Rach, it's time we take care of this," she said, disentangling herself from her daughter's arms. She took hold of the girl's hand and began to lead her over to the bed.

"No, Mom, please," the girl pleaded as she dug in her heels, slowing but not stopping their progress. She bit her lip and fidgeted at the side of the bed as her mom let her go long enough to climb into the center of the bed.

"Let's just do it and get it out of the way. It'll be like last time—not so bad, right?" Shelby encouraged as much for herself as for Rachel.

 _No,_ Rachel thought with a pout. Last time had _hurt_ , but at least it had been her decision. This time she didn't even have a _say_ in the matter. "Mommy, I don't want to do this," she implored.

"I don't want to either, love," Shelby said, leaning forward to grab the teen's wrist, "But we're going to do it anyway."

"You don't have to!" Rachel insisted.

"I do, Rach. Actions have consequences, kiddo, and this is your consequence for all the bad decisions you made today," Shelby said with a hint of sadness in her voice. She really didn't want to have to spank the girl, but if this is what it would take to make sure Rachel grew up to be a responsible adult, she would do it every time.

"Mom, I'm s-s-sorry! I never m-meant for any of this to h-h-happen!" Rachel cried as her mom pulled her up onto the bed beside her.

Shelby considered offering comfort, telling her daughter that she knew she was sorry, but thought better of it. There would be plenty of time for comfort after. Right now, she had to be the bad guy and move forward with her promised sentence.

Not wasting any more time, Shelby gave a quick tug on her daughter's wrist and Rachel toppled over her lap with a surprised shriek. The mother wrapped her right arm around her child's small waist while her left hand got to work lowering Rachel's blue sweatpants to her knees.

"Mommy, nooo!" Rachel whimpered as the cool air hit the back of her thighs. She threw her hand behind her when she felt her mother's fingers in the waistband of her underwear. "Please don't!"

Shelby blinked away tears as she moved her daughter's hand aside and continued to bare her. She peeled the mint green, _Little Mermaid_ undies down the girl's toned, tanned thighs to meet her sweats. The irony that Shelby was about to spank her teenager—a punishment that many would argue is decidedly childish—for partaking in a fairly "grown-up" activity wasn't lost on her, but she was immediately put at ease at the sight of Rachel's _Disney_ underwear. Yes, Rachel was sixteen and growing up, but she was still very much a kid in the privacy of their own home—a kid that needed her mom to step in and correct her when she messed up, even if that meant reddening her rear from time to time.

The first swat fell quickly, sharp and stinging on Rachel's left cheek, surprising the tiny teen. A second one followed almost immediately, landing just as hard on the right side.

"Ouch!" Rachel yelped, hissing as the pain blossomed across her skin. She had forgotten just how much Shelby's hand hurt on an unprotected target.

Shelby set a blistering pace, alternating cheeks and covering every inch of Rachel's bottom from the fullest part to her sit-spots and even the back of the girl's thighs. She closed her ears to her child's protests and pleas; her heart, however, broke with every one of Rachel's cries.

Rachel already had tears streaming down her face when her mother placed her over her lap, but she was full on crying now—and the spanking had only just begun! Her butt was starting to sting but it hurt more knowing that she had made her mom upset enough to spank her.

"Ow! Ow! Mo—AH—mmy! It hurtssss!" she wailed, fighting the urge to throw her hand back for protection. She gripped the pillow smushed beneath her and buried her head in her arms.

Shelby's heart constricted and she wanted nothing more than to gather Rachel in her arms and forget the whole thing, but she knew she couldn't. She had to stick to her guns and see this through to the end. Her darling daughter had made some pretty serious mistakes—mistakes that could have gotten her into a lot more trouble than facing a simple spanking from her mother.

The mother was finding this whole thing so much harder than it had been the last time. For one, it was a punishment and not something she was doing to relieve Rachel of her guilt and help her move on (even though the girl would no doubt have her moment of absolution today as well). For another, Rachel was already crying and saying that it hurt after a dozen and some swats and her bottom was hardly even _pink_ yet. It was how Shelby had expected Rachel to act during the first spanking, but instead the teen remained stoic through most of it and hadn't cried until Shelby told her it was okay to near the very end. The mother assumed she'd be dealing with that same stubbornness today and now that she wasn't, she felt just as uneasy as she had the first time. And like the first time, she'd have to rely on the girl's reactions and not her tears to determine when she had had enough.

"I know it hurts, Rachel. I want you to think about how you are feeling right now," Shelby scolded, punctuating her words with hard spanks, "And then think about how much it'd hurt to be suspended or expelled from school because of your actions. That would hurt so much more and for a lot longer, wouldn't it?"

With that thought firmly in her mind, Shelby focused on turning the girl's barely blushing cheeks a darker shade. Her hand landed again and again on the fullest part of Rachel's bottom, and in no time the skin was a bright pink. Turning now to her daughter's sensitive sit-spots and start of thighs, Shelby peppered the area with sharp spanks that echoed loud as gunshots around the room.

Rachel's crying went up an octave and she kicked her legs against the bed in a futile effort to ease the pain that was quickly turning into a fierce burn. She was positive her mother had been practicing her spanking technique under the cover of darkness. How else could she make it hurt so much in such a small amount of time?

 _Her left hand is really made of steel,_ the girl thought ruefully as she squirmed and tried to avoid her mother's hardened hand.

"Ow! Ah! Please—Ouch—No m-more!" Rachel sobbed, no longer able to stop herself from flinging her arm behind her. She laid her hand palm up across the center of her backside in an effort to cover as much of her scorched skin as possible.

Shelby stopped and rested her hand atop Rachel's smaller one, holding it gently. She squeezed the girl's hand reassuringly before moving it aside. Then she took a moment to rub the warm, pink flesh.

"We're almost finished, Rach," she said as she removed her hand.

Rachel stiffened at her mother's words and let out a dejected sob. She thought they _had_ finished. "No, no, no! I'm s-sorry! Mommy, _please!_ "

Shelby's heart ached and she felt like the biggest, meanest jerk right now. _You felt this way the last time too but pushed forward. You can do this. It's almost over,_ she reminded herself.

Shoving her feelings and oozing mom goo back where they belonged, Shelby took a deep breath and wrapped her arm around Rachel's tiny waist, pulling her closer to her body.

"There will be no more of this behavior, Rachel," she began, raising her arm high in the air. "No more underage drinking, at school or otherwise—"

Her palm crashed down on the teen's rear with an incredible _Smack!_ Five more followed in close succession.

"AH! I-I prom—I promise!" Rachel howled.

"No more stealing—"

Her hand continued to fall, quickly turning her daughter's pink bottom a ruddy red.

"No no! No more—Ow—Steal—AH! I-I won't! Ever—Ow—again! I _swear!"_ Rachel gasped, twisting her hips as she tried to escape the searing swats.

"And absolutely no more letting your friends dictate your actions!" Shelby finished scolding, turning her attention to the tender under curve where bottom met thigh.

Rachel bucked wildly across the maternal lap as her sit-spots were set on fire. As the pain grew, Rachel began to suspect that her mother was hell-bent on making it impossible for her to ever sit down comfortably again. When the woman moved to her upper thighs, Rachel was convinced.

"OwOwOoooohOWWW!" the teen hollered as she finally gave in to the punishment. She lay slumped over her mom's knees, crying hard in both remorse and relief.

Shelby finished up with two stinging spanks, one to each sit-spot, before letting her hand rest on the glowing red backside. She took in the sight of her daughter, a sobbing, snotty mess, and the state of her bottom; the skin was hot to the touch and she had no doubt her little girl would be feeling this lesson every time she sat down for the rest of the evening. Tears threatened to fall as she listened to Rachel's wails, her heart breaking for causing her child pain. She wasn't sure who this spanking hurt more, her or Rachel.

She let Rachel cry it out over her lap for another minute before moving to pull the _Little Mermaid_ undies back into place.

Rachel only became aware that her spanking was over when she felt her mom's hands tugging at her underwear. She let out a startled yelp and twisted her hips so her bottom was facing away from her mother.

"Rach—"

"No! H-Hurts!" the girl cried.

"Okay, we'll leave them off," Shelby soothed, helping her teenager up and off her lap.

Rachel flung herself into her mother's waiting arms, kicking her undies and sweats off as she went. Her head came to rest against Shelby's chest, snuggling in as close as she could to the woman without laying on top of her, and sobbed her heart out. Her oversized t-shirt was bunched up around her waist, leaving her punished rear on full display. She didn't have the energy to feel embarrassed; besides, the cool air felt good on her burning cheeks.

Shelby was no longer able to hold in her tears as her baby continued to cry in her arms, clinging to her tightly. She planted kiss after kiss atop Rachel's head and rubbed her back.

"Hush now, no more tears," she murmured, her hand trailing down to Rachel's bottom. She felt the girl tense at her touch only to relax as she rubbed soothing circles to ease the sting.

Rachel's tears slowed as her mom kept up her gentle ministrations. It wasn't lost on the girl that the soft hand now rubbing her sore bottom was the same hand that had been hard as steel only moments before and caused her pain in the first place. She should feel embarrassed, upset, even angry, but all she felt was safe and loved.

"Mom, I'm s-so sor—sorry," the teen snuffled, wiping her nose on her mother's shirt. "Are you— _hic_ —still m-m-mad at me?" She had all but stopped crying but knew she'd start up again if her mother said yes.

"No, love, I'm not mad," Shelby reassured even as she grimaced at the wet snot trail now seeping into her clean shirt. She rolled her eyes and wrapped both arms around the girl in a tight hug. "I was upset and disappointed, but we've talked about it and you've been spanked. You're forgiven, sweetheart."

"I'll n-never be bad a—again!" Rachel vowed, burying her head in the crook of her mother's neck.

"Hey now—" Shelby sat up straighter, bringing the teen with her. Rachel whined as her bottom briefly made contact with the mattress before settling back into her mother. "—None of that. You aren't bad, Rach. You made some bad decisions, but it doesn't mean you're bad. It means you're a teenager."

"But I—"

"No buts. Listen to your mother, young lady," Shelby mock scolded, breaking into a wide grin.

"Mom," the girl whined, rolling her eyes, but her mouth quirked up in a small smile.

"I don't expect you to be perfect, kid. You're going to make mistakes and show poor judgment from time to time—that's normal. What I want you to focus on and learn from today is that you have complete control over your choices. It doesn't matter what your friends are doing, if you know it's wrong or have a bad feeling about it, don't do it. I want you to think about the consequences—and not just the ones you'd face at home. You're growing up, Rach. The decisions you make today can have a real impact on your future. What do you want that impact to be?" Shelby said, becoming serious.

Rachel nodded solemnly; it was amazing how much more receptive she was to her mother's words now that she had had her butt busted. All resistance was gone and she was able to really listen.

Shelby kissed the girl's head, relieved that her words were getting through. "You won't always have second chances or get off easy like you did today. If you play with fire, Rachel, you'll eventually get burned."

"I think I already was," Rachel replied ruefully, lifting her head to meet her mother's eyes. Her sheepish grin fell as she noticed the tear tracks on the woman's cheeks. "Mom…you're crying," she said in a mixture of astonishment and confusion.

Shelby gave her girl a watery smile, wiping away her remaining tears. "Not anymore," she replied. "I'm okay."

"Why were you crying at all though?" the teen pressed. Rachel knew why _she_ had been crying, but why had her mother? Shelby wasn't the one with the throbbing butt!

"Because it hurts me to see you crying or in pain, baby," Shelby answered honestly. "It hurts even more knowing I am the cause of both today…even if you deserved it."

"Oh," was all Rachel could think to say. She then shrugged, not really understanding (but deciding she didn't really want to), and gave her mom a playful grin. "You know, Mom, if it's gonna hurt you so much, we can just forget about the whole missing Glee thing."

"Oh we can, can we?" asked Shelby. "I appreciate your concern, but I think I'll survive."

"Are you sure?" Rachel continued, encouraged by her mother's lighthearted tone, "I'm looking out for your own well-being, Mom."

The teen's eyes twinkled mischievously as she waited for her mother's response. She didn't _really_ think her mom would go for it, but she also couldn't see passing up this golden opportunity. Perhaps her mom would take a page out of the Berry men's book and give in to her cajoling.

"Oho, is that so?" Shelby laughed.

Rachel nodded enthusiastically, her hopes soaring. Her mom was taking this extremely well so far. She almost had her. She just needed another little push. "I'd hate for you to cry again over seeing me in such pain," she wheedled.

"Mmmhmmm," Shelby hummed. "Well, _someone's_ going to be crying again, but it won't be me," she said, popping the girl playfully.

Rachel let out a small squeak at the unexpected swat. It wasn't much more than a love pat, but it was enough to reignite the fire from before. "Oww! Mommy!" she whined, tears forming.

Shelby's heart constricted at her daughter's renewed sniffling. "Hey, shhh, shhh," she hushed, her hand moving once more to the girl's bottom to ease the sting she had caused. The teen's tears ended as quickly as they began and Shelby let out a sigh of relief. "Okay, kid," she said with one last rub, "Enough of this, let's move on with our evening. Are you feeling okay now?"

Rachel nodded and wiped her face against her mother's shirt.

"Good," Shelby said, ignoring the new wet patch on her shoulder. Her eyes flicked to the clock on her nightstand, the glowing red digits reading 4:53—plenty of time to make dinner, but she didn't really feel like it. "How do you feel about Chinese tonight?"

"Chinese is fine."

"Okay. The usual?" Shelby asked, receiving a nod in return. She smiled and leaned forward to kiss her daughter's head before scooting towards the edge of the bed. "I'll go order. Why don't you wash your face and then pick out a movie for us to watch?"

Rachel nodded and watched her mom leave the room before stretching out on her stomach on the big bed. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying and her butt throbbed with a pulse all its own. She was emotionally and physically drained and it felt good to melt into the soft, downy comforter and close her eyes.

Shelby placed their order with their favorite Chinese shop and returned the house phone to its dock, checking the time on the digital display. It had been nearly fifteen minutes since she had come downstairs, surely that was more than enough time for Rachel to have washed her face and joined her. Worried that her daughter was still upset over her punishment, Shelby climbed the stairs to investigate.

Her search led her first to Rachel's bedroom and then bathroom and finally to the master where she found the teen curled up in the center of the bed, fast asleep. Laying half on her stomach, half on her side, with her right leg tucked up and her arm slumped over her hip, it was clear that Rachel had drifted off while tending to her bottom.

Shelby smiled and shook her head while she eased Rachel's arm into a more comfortable position on the mattress. The girl sighed deeply and rolled further onto her stomach, giving Shelby a full view of her still-bare backside. The mother was pleased to note that while still red, her daughter's cheeks were no longer glowing—she'd no doubt have trouble sitting for dinner, but would be no worse for wear by the morning, Shelby decided.

Shelby watched her daughter sleep for another moment before moving to get the girl a lightweight blanket from the hall closet. Returning with the item, Shelby carefully shook it out and laid it over the slumbering teen. She bent over and kissed Rachel's cheek before tiptoeing from the room.

Their food arrived twenty minutes later and mother and daughter sat down for a pleasant (if somewhat painful in Rachel's case) dinner. Afterwards, they retired to the living room for some snuggles and a movie.

Rachel was sprawled out on her stomach, her head resting in her mom's lap while Shelby ran her fingers through her hair. Every so often, she would snake her hand back to rub idly at her bottom. Truthfully, she wasn't all that sore anymore, but she was playing it up, hoping to sway her mother into giving her back Glee. She wasn't going to miss rehearsals regardless, but having her mom relent was certainly better than having to sneak around to do it. After all, today's spanking was still fresh in her mind and Rachel wasn't looking to find herself in any more trouble that would earn her a repeat performance.

Shelby was only half focused on the movie ( _Funny Girl_ , what a surprise), focusing instead on her daughter. She didn't miss the sneaky glances her child was giving her each time she rubbed her backside. She knew exactly what the girl was doing and she was determined not to acknowledge it, but when the latest attempt was accompanied by a long, dramatic sigh, Shelby decided to play along.

"Are you still sore, kiddo?" she asked, reaching her own hand down to rub the sweatpant-clad bum.

Rachel hid a smirk, pleased with herself for getting her mother's attention so easily. The woman was playing right into her trap.

The girl let out another sigh before drawling out a forlorn "Yeeaaah."

It was Shelby's turn to hide her own smirk and eye roll at her teenager's antics, which she did with practiced ease—working with teens day in and day out did have its advantages. "I'm sorry to hear that, Rach," she sympathized, "You'll feel better in the morning."

Rachel frowned at her mother's words but pushed ahead. "I hope so. It'll be really hard to concentrate in class if I'm having trouble sitting," she sighed.

"I'm sure it would be," Shelby agreed.

"Especially if I don't have anything to look forward to in the afternoon," Rachel pressed, giving her mom a sad look.

"Oh Rach," Shelby chuckled. "I promise you you're going to be just fine. But if you're that worried about it, I can write you a note so you can take a pillow to school with you."

" _Mom!_ " Rachel exclaimed, outraged. Without thinking, she sprung into a sitting position so she could stare incredulously at her mother. "You can't be serious!"

"No, I'm not—but neither are you," Shelby said, watching as confusion washed over her daughter's face. She inclined her head towards Rachel's position; it was clear to both of them that the girl was having no problem sitting.

Confusion gave way to blushing cheeks and a guilty expression. The mother let her girl squirm under her knowing gaze for a moment before speaking. "I understand that you're upset and even angry about not being able to participate in Glee this week, Rachel. I get it, sweetheart, and I'm not saying you can't feel those things. They're perfectly normal and it's okay to feel that way. What's _not_ okay, however, is you trying to manipulate me to get your way. I don't appreciate it and I absolutely won't tolerate it going forward. Am I understood?"

"But I wasn't—"

Shelby raised her hand to end that argument before it began. "No you don't. You absolutely were being manipulative. You were trying to make me feel guilty to get your way. It stops right now," Shelby scolded.

"I just don't see why you have to take away Glee," Rachel pouted, folding her arms and slumping down on the couch.

"We've been through this, Rachel, and I'm not going to argue with you about it. You broke the rules and now you have to deal with the consequences."

"But you already spanked me and it really hurt! I learned my lesson, Mom. Is it _really_ necessary that I miss Glee too?"

"Yes it is, Rachel," Shelby said firmly.

"But Mom—"

"I'm the parent here, kiddo, and like it or not, what I say goes. I'm always willing to hear you out and take your feelings into consideration, but at the end of the day, I make the final decisions. Your punishments are not your decisions and they aren't up for negotiation. Alright?"

"But couldn't you—"

" _Enough,_ Rachel," Shelby said in exasperation. The mother was quickly losing her patience. It had been a long day and she was tired. She didn't want to keep having this conversation with her daughter. But she was also aware that this behavior was deeply rooted in the teenager; the girl was used to wheedling and wearing down her fathers until she got her way. It wasn't going to work on Shelby and she was going to make that abundantly clear to her child once and for all.

"I realize you behave this way with your fathers and get your way by doing so, but I am not your fathers, Rachel. This tactic will not work on me. In fact, consider this your final warning. If I hear one more word about you missing Glee, I'll add another week onto your sentence," she threatened, praying her teenager wouldn't force her hand.

"No Mom, you can't!" Rachel gasped as tears began to well in her eyes. Her mom had just thrown her a curveball she wasn't expecting.

"I don't have to, Rach, but it's entirely up to you. If you just stop arguing with me and trying to get out of your punishment, I won't have to add any time onto your restriction. It really is as simple as that," Shelby said, her tone softening.

"Okay, I'm sorry," Rachel sniffed, upset at the turn of events. This wasn't how she had wanted things to go at all. _Seems to be the theme of the day,_ she thought ruefully.

"Come here, baby," Shelby cooed, pulling the girl onto her lap and snuggling her close. "I truly do hope you're sorry, but if you really want to show me that you are and have learned something from all of this, you need to stop fighting me every step of the way. I don't like this anymore than you do, kid. Please don't make it harder than it has to be."

Rachel nodded. "Okay, Mom, I get it. I really am sorry. I just hate having to miss Glee," she sniffed, wiping at her eyes as she fought hard not to cry.

"I don't expect you to be happy about this punishment but I _do_ expect you to respect and accept it."

Rachel nodded once more, burying her head in the crook of her mother's neck. She breathed in the subtle floral aroma of her mother's perfume, relaxing into her mom's arms as the woman rubbed soothing circles on her back.

They stayed like that for a long time, the only sound in the room coming from the movie playing forgotten on the TV. Rachel's sniffles had stopped some time ago and now Shelby could hear the girl's breathing evening out. She shifted, adjusting her sleepy child in her lap, and kissed the girl's head gently. She'd stay like this all night if she could, enjoying the quiet snuggles with her daughter, but it was getting late and she wouldn't be able to carry Rachel upstairs if she fell asleep now. So with a sigh, Shelby kissed her girl one last time before rousing the teen from her doze.

"Rach, sweetie," she spoke softly, "It's bedtime, love. C'mon, up you get." Rachel moaned as Shelby lifted her under her arms to help her stand. Shelby's hands went to the girl's hips to hold her steady as she stood behind her.

"Mommy," the girl whined groggily as she wobbled on the spot.

"I know you're sleepy, kid, c'mon," Shelby said with a few maternal pats to the teen's bottom, "Let's go get ready for bed."

Shelby led Rachel over to the stairs and sent her up them with another gentle pat and orders to brush her teeth and get into bed. She'd go up to tuck the girl in after she tidied up downstairs.

The mother was climbing the stairs fifteen minutes later, on her way to her daughter's bedroom when she noticed light streaming from her own. She made her way towards the light, smiling when she walked in to find Rachel once more sprawled out in the center of her bed.

"Can I sleep with you tonight, Mommy?" the girl asked sleepily, opening one eye halfway at the sound of Shelby's footsteps.

"Of course, love. You never have to ask," Shelby smiled, making a detour to the bed to plant a kiss to her child's forehead before heading into her en-suite.

Rachel scooted over when she felt the bed dip as her mom got in and climbed under the covers at the woman's prompting. Shelby turned off the bedside lamp and Rachel immediately melted into her side. She felt her mom kiss her head once more before starting to sing a gentle lullaby. As Rachel drifted off to sleep, she considered her options for this week. A small part of her felt guilty for planning to deceive her mother. That part told her to just suck it up and accept her fate. The larger part, however, told her that missing Glee was the worst thing that could ever possibly happen and she had to do whatever it took to be at those rehearsals.

* * *

 **AHHH! So that's where this chapter leaves off but the story's not over yet! Pretty sure Rachel is going to find herself in hot water again VERY soon. How do you think Shelby will react? Leave a review and let me know what you thought and any ideas you have for what could/should be coming next!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello Readers! I hope you're still out there! I know it's been TOO LONG since my last update. Honestly, life got in the way for awhile. For those of you that don't know, I'm a stay at home mom, I have a beautiful baby girl who is becoming more of a toddler every day. She's smart and funny and incredibly stubborn and dramatic and LOVES musicals. She takes up a lot of my time. And while being a mom is rewarding and amazing, it's incredibly hard too and it took its toll on me. I hit a low point and I was stuck in a bit of darkness for months. Finally beginning to see the light again. I've been taking care of myself and by doing so, I've been able to get back this part of myself. I've missed writing and missed being able to share my stories. I hope you like this new chapter and stick around for more. I can't promise I won't go MIA again, but I do promise that I'll always come back.**

 **Anyway, thanks for your time reading this. And without further ado, I give you the next chapter.**

 **Love from,**

 **DARecruit**

* * *

 **Bottoms Up: Chapter Three**

Shelby sighed and took a long swig of her coffee. It was going to be a long week if this morning was anything to go on. It was just after six and Rachel was already arguing with her about being able to sing in the auditorium after school.

"But _why_ , Mom?" the teen asked for the millionth time.

Shelby downed the rest of her coffee in one gulp and went to refill her mug, taking the extra seconds to collect her thoughts. It was too early for this and quite frankly, she thought she had made herself perfectly clear the night before regarding this issue. _Not clear enough, apparently,_ she thought to herself.

Refilled mug in hand, Shelby turned once more to look at her petulant teen slumped at the kitchen island, picking absentmindedly at her avocado toast. "What did I _just_ tell you last night, Rachel? I don't want to argue with you about Glee all week. Stop it now."

"I'm _not_ arguing," Rachel insisted, earning a raised eyebrow from her mother. She huffed and continued on, ignoring the obvious warning in the woman's stare. "Besides, this doesn't even have anything to _do_ with Glee."

"It's not all that far removed from what you do in Glee and too much of a temptation for you. The way you are acting right now just proves my point."

"Ugh! You're being ridiculous!" the girl whined.

"Rachel," Shelby growled, "I've already told you that how you act with your dads won't fly with me. Whining and arguing does nothing except make it worse for you. As of right now, you still have the freedom to do what you want after school—except for Glee and singing in the auditorium—but you're about five seconds from losing that privilege."

"But that's not fair! You're not giving me a good reason why I can't!"

"Because I said so! That's reason enough!" Shelby said in exasperation. Rachel grumbled something under her breath that Shelby didn't catch but could probably guess. She clenched her teeth and resisted the urge to snatch Rachel up and give her a few more good reasons on her backside. Instead, she took a steadying breath and said in a calm, if somewhat strained voice, "I'm being extremely patient with you here, kid. I _should_ follow through with my promise and take away Glee next week as well but I'm trying to give you a chance to change your attitude. Please don't make me regret that decision."

"But I'm not arguing about Glee! I just want to sing at school!" Rachel fussed with an annoyed huff.

"And I told you no. We went over this last night as well, Rachel. You need to respect my decisions because I am your mother and I make the rules. Did you listen to _anything_ I said?"

"I did, but—"

"Enough, Rachel," Shelby cut the girl off, pulling her up from her seat. "Since you're clearly done with your breakfast, you can unload the dishwasher."

"But I don't do that until after dinner," said the teen.

"Well you can get a head start on it. You'll be washing the dinner dishes by hand tonight too," Shelby said, unfazed by the pout she was currently receiving from her child.

"But that'll take me ages to—Yeouch!" Rachel yelped when a hard swat connected with her rear. She jumped and tried to move away from her mother, but the woman had grabbed her arm and spun her around to face her.

" _Why_ do you have to continue to argue with me when I've told you to stop? Multiple times, I might add!" Shelby asked, frustrated.

"I don't know," Rachel answered honestly as she rubbed her bottom. She chanced a glance up at her mom and squirmed under the piercing glare she was met with.

Shelby sighed and looked skyward, praying for strength. She had meant that as a rhetorical question, but she knew her daughter had answered truthfully. She knew Rachel had spent her entire sixteen years getting her way with pretty much everything and the fact that she couldn't with Shelby threw her for a loop. Rachel was responding to this situation the way she would any other, not stopping to consider who she was dealing with. Shelby knew that and even understood it, but it didn't make it any easier for her to not become frustrated and even angered by it.

"Rachel, I understand this is a learned behavior years in the making, but it's not okay with me, kiddo. I don't expect you to never argue with me, but I do expect you to listen when I tell you to stop. I've given you plenty of warnings and you've ignored every last one of them. I don't like being ignored, young lady," Shelby scolded in a firm tone that only increased her child's squirming.

"I'm sorry," Rachel offered quickly, hoping it would ease the angry look marring her mother's beautiful features. It did not.

"I have no doubt you're going to be in a minute," Shelby replied, hiding a smirk as Rachel gasped and tried to shield as much of her backside as possible with one hand.

"No, wait—Mommy, please!" Rachel whimpered as she was turned away from her mom.

"Unload the dishwasher and go get ready for school. I'm going to make a list of chores for you to do after school today and I want them done by the time I get home from practice at five, got it?" Shelby said as she released her hold on the girl.

"Okay, got it," Rachel nodded vehemently, surprised and relieved not to feel the stinging swats she had been expecting.

"I love you, Rachel, but I don't love this behavior. Fix it before I do it for you. You have until this afternoon," Shelby said, leaving her daughter to her chore and her thoughts.

 **Bottoms Up * Bottoms Up * Bottoms Up**

Rachel sat in the empty choir room, staring down at the list of chores her mother had handed her before they left the house twenty minutes ago. Not for the first time, she wondered why she just _had_ to argue with her mother. She did it last night with the spanking and then when she tried to convince her mom to let her go to Glee, and again this morning with the auditorium. She had only created more trouble for herself by doing so. And she knew she wouldn't get her way, not with her mom. Shelby Corcoran was a hard-ass and Rachel was well aware of it. And yet, she still pushed.

The girl sighed. Her mom hadn't gone easy on her with the chores for today and even warned her that if her behavior didn't improve, she would come up with enough chores to keep her busy every day after school as well as all weekend long.

 _If only I had kept my big mouth shut_ , the teen thought to herself. _Then I wouldn't be in this mess now. I could have done what I wanted and Mom would never know. But noooo, you and your dumb arguments._

Well, going to Glee rehearsal was out and so was singing in the auditorium after school—as it was, Rachel was going to have to go straight home at the end of the day if she wanted any chance of getting it all done in the two hours she had before her mother walked through the door. Yet all was not lost.

 _Mom only said no to singing in the auditorium after school. She didn't say anything about during the day, so it wouldn't_ _ **really**_ _be breaking the rules, now would it?_ the little voice inside her head reasoned. It was the same voice that had assured her her mother wouldn't find out about the drinking. Well, she had only found out about the drinking at _school_ because of Santana and Brittany. Rachel had gotten away with her party over the weekend and there was no reason that Shelby would find out about it now.

Rachel nodded to herself. It made sense, she thought. She would ask Mr. Schue if she could use the auditorium during lunch and then head home directly after school to make sure she got every single chore done perfectly so as to not give her mom any reason to still be upset with her this afternoon.

"I _have_ to sing. I just have to," Rachel proclaimed to the empty classroom.

She didn't anticipate having any trouble convincing Schuester to let her use the auditorium later. The man meant well but there was no denying that he was a huge pushover. Rachel always knew how to use that to her advantage and today would be no different. So instead, she focused on her list of chores and what would be the most efficient way to tackle them all. She was so busy reorganizing the list that she didn't hear the footsteps coming her way.

"There you are, Hobbit," Santana sneered as she stomped over to the small brunette, "I've got a bone to pick with you."

Rachel looked up at the cheerleader's voice, brows furrowing as she took in the angry look on the Latina's face. Her eyes then scanned the other disgruntled faces of her teammates as they filed into the room behind her.

"Because of you, I'm grounded for two weeks! Complete lockdown," the girl grumbled.

"Why is it my fault? I seem to recall you and Brittany vomiting all over the stage yesterday. Maybe if you two were better at holding your alcohol we—"

Rachel prudently ended her thought and leapt up from her chair as a flash of red-hot rage glinted in Santana's eye. She had only barely managed to get out of harm's way before Santana's fist was occupying the space her face had just been. Puck and Mike then intervened, pulling the angry cheerleader away as she cursed at Rachel in Spanish.

"Alright, no need to kill her," Puck said. "Besides, Berry's got a point." That comment earned him a hard stomp to his foot. "Ow! Watch the toes! You're just pissed because you and Britt blew chunks in front of everyone yesterday. If you two could have just held off until after the song, no one would have known anything. That's not on Rachel, that's on you."

Santana growled and stomped on Puck's foot a second time. The boy released his hold on her and hopped back a step. Santana took that opportunity to elbow him in the stomach before turning her attention to Mike. The tall dancer immediately let go of her other arm and held his own up in surrender, backing away slowly.

"Yeah, well, Rachel's the one who brought in the alcohol in the first place. So if it wasn't for her, none of us would be in trouble now," Santana argued.

"Oh, shut up, San. No one made you drink it. We got caught, let's move on," Quinn interjected. "Besides, you got off easy with two weeks. My mom told me I'm grounded indefinitely. Being a recovering alcoholic, she doesn't want me following in her footsteps."

"I'm with Quinn. I'll be working in my dad's shop until I'm 30. Goodbye social life," said Kurt, Finn nodding along sadly besides him.

Tina, Mike, and Mercedes were the next to bemoan their lot, a four week long sentence for each of them. Artie confessed to being grounded for a week with no Glee and an on-going house arrest every weekend for the next two months.

"Even my mom grounded me for three weeks over this stunt, and she normally doesn't bother. Said she didn't want me turning into my old man," Puck shrugged as he flopped down in the chair Rachel had previously been sitting in.

"Okay, fine," Santana conceded with an eye roll. "Maybe I got off easier than the rest of you, but I still say this is all Rachel's fault!"

"Sanny, I think you're only grounded for two weeks because Mami Lopez spanked your butt with her wooden spoon too," Brittany piped up in her usual dreamy voice.

The room broke out in laughter as all eyes turned to Santana who sputtered and turned as red as her Cheerios uniform. "Brittany!" she hissed, feeling betrayed. "Why would you say that?" The girl turned to the others and insisted nothing of the sort happened.

"But you asked me to come rub it last night because you were sore, remember?" Brittany asked innocently.

"Brittany—"

"Want me to rub it for you, Santana?" Puck asked with a smirk.

Brittany continued on as if the interruptions hadn't happened, "And your skin was so red and hot. And then you started moaning and saying it felt so good and then I slipped my finger—"

"Brittany!" Santana groaned, rushing over to slap her hand over the blonde's mouth. "Remember we talked about secrets that are only between us? This is one of those times, Britt-Britt," she whispered into the other girl's ear.

Rachel listened to the conversation happening around her and after hearing some of her teammates' punishments, she realized Shelby had actually gone fairly easy on her. In fact, her mother was a complete pushover compared to the other parents. Yes she had been spanked and wasn't allowed to go to Glee this week, but she was still free to do as she pleased otherwise. Her classmates couldn't say the same. And after hearing Santana's fate, Rachel couldn't even be upset over the spanking she was given. Hers was no doubt a walk in the park compared to the one Santana had endured. And not that the girl would ever admit this out loud, but she was glad she wasn't the only kid whose parent believed that sometimes a reddened rear was the best way to impart a lesson.

"Sorry, Sanny. I won't tell them next time it happens," Brittany apologized just as soon as the raven-haired beauty uncovered her mouth. She added a soft peck on the girl's cheek before flouncing off to take a seat.

The corner of Santana's mouth twitched upwards even as she rolled her eyes and followed after the blonde. She eased herself down onto the hard plastic chair and bit the inside of her cheek as she fought the urge to squirm to find a more comfortable position. Her eyes flicked up and caught Rachel staring at her.

"What are you looking at, Man-Hands?"

Rachel averted her eyes, another surge of gratitude washing over her that her mom was clearly a pushover. As much as she believed she would never be able to sit comfortably ever again after her mom finished with her last night, she was back to normal in less than three hours. It was clear that Santana hadn't faired as well after hers.

"Brittany, what did your parents do?" Tina asked in an effort to deflect the tension growing in the room.

"They told me drinking was wrong and not to do it," said the blonde.

"That's it?" Finn scoffed.

"Yes, although Lord Tubbington took away my iPod for a month," Brittany said. Everyone just nodded along as if a cat handing out a punishment made any sense.

"What about you, Rachel? What did your mom have to say?" Kurt asked.

"Oh, uh," Rachel faltered. After the punishments they had all shared, she really didn't want to tell them her mom had only banned her from Glee for a week. And she certainly couldn't tell them about her spanking. They had all laughed at Santana's, but the Latina was popular enough (not to mention scary enough) that that's as far as it would go. If anyone were to find out that Rachel Berry was spanked…well, there would just be no coming back from that. Deciding to err on the side of extreme caution, she said, "I'm banned from Glee for a week and grounded until further notice."

"Finally some good news!" Santana exclaimed. "A week without your annoying ass in practice!"

"When do we get a week without _your_ annoying ass, Santana?" asked Finn. His comment was met with laughter from the rest of the Glee kids.

Before Santana could respond, Will Schuester walked into the room and everyone fell silent. "Morning, kids," he said, not surprised when most of them scowled in greeting. "First bell is going to ring any minute now. You all better head to class." He turned his attention to his locked door, hand in pocket searching for his key ring.

Grumbles were heard all around as teenagers picked up bags and shuffled toward the door. Rachel busied herself with pretending to pack her bag, waiting until the coast was clear to pounce on the unsuspecting music coach.

Will just turned the doorknob when he noticed a flash of brown behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and sighed, not surprised by Rachel's dallying. He had a feeling he knew exactly what she was about to say.

"Hurry up, Rachel, you don't want to be late for first period," he said, the bell ringing in agreement.

"I need to talk to you, Mr. Schue," came the teen's reply. "You can write me a note if I'm late." She flicked her hand in the air as if waving an annoying bug from her and strode confidently over to her teacher.

"If this is about Glee, Rachel, your mother has already let me know that you will be missing practices this week," Will informed the tiny teen in an effort to end the conversation before it even started.

Rachel was caught off guard by that particular piece of information. Her mother was good—she thought of everything. Well, _almost_ everything.

Shaking off her surprise, Rachel put on her best show face. "It's not about Glee, Mr. Schue. I wanted to ask you for permission to use the auditorium during lunch today."

"No, Rachel," Will answered immediately.

"Great, Mr. Schue, I—Wait, what? Did you say no? Why?"

Will's thoughts turned to Shelby's words from the previous day. He knew if he didn't put his foot down now, Rachel would walk all over him this week. He knew she wasn't allowed in Glee all week. Perhaps he needed to up the ante right from the get-go. It certainly couldn't hurt and maybe he'd save himself from a week's worth of arguments from the petite girl.

"Because I'm pulling all privileges to the Glee club this week," he brought the hammer down in one fell swoop. Rachel's mouth hung open in sheer disbelief. "That means no auditorium solo practices during lunch or after school until Monday."

"But that's—Mr. Schuester, you can't be serious, I—Regionals are coming up and—"

"Enough, Rachel. This isn't up for discussion. Now, you really need to get to class," Will said, finally pushing his office door open and stepping inside. The door shut with a firm click and he let out a long sigh and slumped against it.

Rachel was left standing there, mouth agape. That was the first time Mr. Schuester had walked away from one of their conversations; normally it was she who did the walking out.

The second bell rang and Rachel was jarred from her thoughts. She had three minutes to get to her first period before being marked late. The girl grabbed her bag and hurried from the room, an idea already forming to work around the mounting obstacles keeping her from her goal.

 **Bottoms Up * Bottoms Up * Bottoms Up**

The day passed much too slowly for Rachel, but it was the end of the day and the girl was finally walking through the doors to the auditorium. It was just after two in the afternoon and while she was _technically_ supposed to be in the library for her study hall period, Rachel had asked Mrs. Roberts, the school librarian, for a hall pass to visit the nurse's office. The grandmotherly woman had given the pass without question and sent Rachel off with a smile and kind words to feel better. The girl almost felt bad for taking advantage of the woman's kindness but quickly brushed those feelings away as she took to the stage.

The teenager was all at once transported to the dazzling stage at The Tony's where five-time Tony award-winning Rachel Barbra Berry was about to perform the show-stopping number from the wildly successful revival of _Funny Girl_.

Rachel stepped up to the mic, pausing dramatically to give the audience time to properly applaud. She closed her eyes, took a breath and then...

 _Don't tell me not to live_ _Just sit and putter_ _Life's candy and the sun's_ _A ball of butter_ _Don't bring around a cloud_ _To rain on my parade_

Will Schuester was walking back to his office from the teacher's lounge with a fresh cup of coffee. He wanted to grade his sophomore class' tests with the seventy minutes he had free before Glee practice at 3:30. He was just passing the auditorium when he heard music coming from behind the doors. And was that...Rachel?

Anger filled him as he pushed the doors open and stalked down the center aisle. He had thought for once, he had gotten through to the girl. He had expected Rachel to torture him today with a million arguments for why she should be allowed to sing in the auditorium, but he hadn't heard a peep from her. Now he knew why.

Rachel was so immersed in her fantasy and the song that she didn't realize she wasn't alone until Mr. Schuester was right in front of her.

"Rachel, just what do you think you're doing? I thought I made it perfectly clear that solo practices were off the table this week."

"Well, actually, Mr. Schue, you made it perfectly clear they were off the table during lunch and after school. You never said anything about other times," the girl pointed out.

Will saw red. Never before did he wish corporal punishment was still allowed in schools more than he did right now. He took a deep breath and counted to five. And then did it again.

"I didn't think I had to mention that during classes was off limits," he bit back. "You know better, Rachel. Get back to class."

"But Mr. Schue, I have a free period. Couldn't I just—"

"No you can't. Go to class. Now."

For the second time that day, Rachel was shocked to silence as her normally meek teacher walked away from her.

Will was still fuming as he got back to his office. He sat his now forgotten coffee on the desk and picked up the phone.

"Shelby, hi. It's Will Schuester. I'm calling about Rachel..."

Rachel begrudgingly trudged back to the library, gracing Mrs. Roberts with a thousand watt smile when the woman asked if she felt better, and claimed a table near the window. She reached into her bag and pulled out her binder and math book. If she couldn't use this time to sing, she might as well get some homework done.

The girl silently bemoaned her rotten luck as she flipped through her math book to the correct page. But really, what were the chances that Schuester would walk by and catch her? She had specifically planned for this time because not only did she have a free period and could easily get away, but she knew for a _fact_ that the man spent this time every day sequestered in his office catching up on paperwork.

But, perhaps it was for the best. She still had to go home and complete the list of chores before her mother got home, and she really didn't want to have to worry about doing her homework after all of that. She was hoping she and her mom could have a nice, peaceful evening together without any drama, and, more importantly, trouble.

By the time the final bell rang forty minutes later, Rachel had finished her math, Spanish, and biology homework. The only thing left she had to do was a reading assignment for her American Lit class. It was a short story with a few questions at the end that wouldn't take her more than thirty minutes to complete; she could easily get that done in the time it took her mother to make dinner that evening.

A quick stop at her locker to drop off the books she no longer needed in exchange for the one she did, Rachel made her way to the main entrance. It was a sunny day and unusually warm for February; the walk home wouldn't take long and would actually be enjoyable.

The girl delighted in the fresh, crisp air tickling her face as she walked down the sidewalk alongside the row of parents' cars waiting for their children. She was just passing the fifth car when she suddenly felt like she had been doused in ice water. Idling right in front of her was the unmistakable black Range Rover with a _very_ angry Shelby sitting behind the wheel.

Rachel stood rooted to the spot, her heart thumping as she tried to figure out _why_ her mother was at her school and looking like she was about to flip her lid. What happened that would make her drive all the way over here right before her VA practice?

 _Oh no!_ Another chill ran down the girl's back and her stomach twisted in on itself. _No no no! But surely he didn't...Did he?_

"Rachel Barbra Berry! Get your butt in this car. _Now!_ "

 _He did._ Rachel couldn't believe Schuester had called her mom twice in twenty-four hours. That had to be a record or something.

"He could've at least given me fair warning," the girl grumbled, eyeing her mother warily. She _really_ didn't want to get in the car with her.

"Rachel, if I have to get out of this car to come get you, so help me..."

That got Rachel's feet moving. The girl threw her bag in the backseat before reluctantly climbing into the front. Teeth worried a bottom lip as eyes tried to look anywhere but at the furious hazel shooting daggers her way.

Shelby shook her head and sucked her teeth in a mixture of disbelief and frustration. So many thoughts were going through her head as she put the car in drive. Where did she even start? The mother had hoped this morning would be the worst of Rachel's behavior today. She was firm with the girl and didn't let her get away with her arguing. She gave what she thought was a reasonable amount of chores to make her lecture stick. That was supposed to be the end of it. Shelby had been looking forward to coming home to a clean house and more agreeable daughter. They were supposed to have a relaxing evening, chatting happily over a home-cooked meal before spending the rest of the night hanging out. The mother had even planned to sing show tunes with the girl to her heart's content. And yet, Rachel just didn't know when to quit.

The teen squirmed uneasily in her seat as the minutes ticked by, the car crawling along the pick-up lane. Finally, after what felt like ages, Shelby turned out onto the street. Rachel thought for sure her mom was going to lay into her, but as another minute passed, the silence became too much for her.

"Look, Mom, whatever Mr. Schue said, I—"

"I don't want to hear it right now, Rachel," Shelby cut the girl off.

"But I ca—"

"Not. One. Word."

Rachel slunk down in her seat and went back to chewing her lip. Tears prickled at the corners of her eyes at finding herself in trouble—again.

Shelby ignored the nervous glances and sniffles coming from the passenger seat and drove in complete silence. She needed time to think. She was incredibly upset at the girl's behavior. So far Rachel had done everything in her power to try to get around Shelby's punishment. Even after both conversations Shelby had with her about respecting the rules whether she agreed with them or not, Rachel was _still_ trying to manipulate the situation to get her way.

The woman sighed, reminding herself once again that the girl had spent sixteen years behaving this way. She knew she wasn't going to be able to unteach that overnight. Still, this had to stop. It was high time Rachel learned that she couldn't manipulate people or situations simply because she wasn't getting what she wanted. Life wouldn't always cater to her every whim and the sooner she learned that, the better.

Rachel was surprised when her mother drove past the turn they needed to make to go home. She had assumed her mom was taking her home the same as she had done the previous day. But now it was clear to the girl that they were heading back to her mother's school. The teen scowled at the turn of events. She wasn't allowed at her own Glee practices, she didn't want to have to sit through Vocal Adrenaline's too. Still...maybe she could take advantage of her circumstance and spy on the competition.

Shelby pulled into her primo parking spot (just one of the perks of being a top-ranking show choir coach) and cut the engine. She reached into her center console, pulled out a travel packet of tissues, and turned towards her child.

"I love you, Rachel. I'm incredibly upset with your behavior today." She met the girl's wet eyes and handed her the tissues. "I promised you this morning that I would fix it if you didn't, and I never go back on my word, kid. I care about you too much to let you act this way."

Fat tears clung to Rachel's lashes at her mother's words. The woman's tone was firm but calm and made the girl feel even worse than if she had just yelled. The teen couldn't help the sad look she threw her mom's way.

"But for now, I need you to dry your tears. Practice starts in less than ten minutes and I need to meet my kids in the auditorium. We'll talk after that," she finished, not offering any comfort despite her daughter's silent plea for it. There would be time enough for that later when she was in Mom mode; for now, she needed to channel her hard-ass alter ego and Rachel was just going to have to deal with that.

It took another three minutes for Rachel to compose herself enough and then the pair made their way into the building. Shelby hurried them along to the auditorium and, taking her daughter's bag, told her girl she could freshen up in the bathroom while she went and started practice.

Rachel walked through the heavy auditorium doors moments later, jaw dropping at the grandness of the room. It was like walking into a theater. What the girl wouldn't give to sing on _that_ stage. She hurried over to the director's desk and took a seat, watching as the Vocal Adrenaline kids warmed up.

Shelby was barking orders left and right, making sure her kids were doing what they needed to before practice got started. Once she was satisfied they actually knew what they were doing, she turned to find her daughter. Her search didn't take long as the girl was sitting at the director's desk, watching the proceedings with rapt attention. The mother shook her head and raised an eyebrow as she studied her child.

"Let's go, kid," Shelby said as she closed the distance between them. She shouldered the teen's bookbag and looked at her expectantly.

"Where are we going?" Rachel asked in confusion.

"To my office. I want to talk for a minute and then you can work on your homework until practice is over," Shelby said simply.

"I have to stay in your office the whole time? But I finished most of my homework at school and what I have left won't take hardly any time to do. I'll be bored!" The girl's mouth was moving before her brain could weigh in; it was unfortunate for her because one look at her mother's face and she knew she was walking a thin line.

Before the teen could backpedal, Shelby had snatched her up out of her seat and was marching her to the exit. Rachel let out a surprised little squeak and tried to break free from her mom's grip, but Shelby had a firm hold.

"Rachel, unless you want everyone to see me swat you all the way to my office, I suggest you knock it off right now," Shelby whispered ominously.

Rachel felt her face heat up all the way to her ears and she immediately stood down, not wanting her mom to make good on her threat. It was embarrassing enough having the woman dragging her along by the arm; anyone walking by would know she was in trouble. She didn't need them to witness the outcome too.

Shelby was relieved when the girl stopped trying to pull away from her. While she had been bluffing with her threat, she was quickly losing her patience and wasn't at all sure what she would have done had Rachel continued to fight her. Truth was, the mother was beyond frustrated. Everything she had told the girl these last two days had been argued, talked around, or just plain ignored. She was ready to pull out all the stops in order to really get through to her kid.

Shelby let go of the momentarily-subdued teenager in order to unlock her office door, then ushered the girl inside with a guiding hand to the small of her back. Hand retreated once more to shut the door and even lock it, ensuring complete privacy. Heels clicked as she made her way over to her desk, dropping Rachel's bag in the chair closest to the wall as she went, and perched herself on the edge of the lacquered surface.

"Alright, Rachel, take a seat," Shelby pointed to the empty chair in front of her.

Rachel sighed and dragged her feet to the designated spot, wishing she could be anywhere but here at this very moment. She knew her mom was upset with her and she didn't particularly want to be in such close proximity of the woman's left hand right now. They were now alone, after all, and the girl hadn't missed her mother locking the door. That coupled with Shelby's threat still ringing in her ears made Rachel more than a little anxious.

Shelby folded her arms across her chest and regarded her daughter sternly, noting the nervous energy exuding from the teen. _Good,_ she thought, _she should be nervous. This is the absolute last time she's going to manipulate or outright ignore my rules this week._ The mother wished she could say it would be the last time period but she didn't have unrealistic expectations for her child. She knew there would be other setbacks, but if she could at least set the foundation firmly in place this time, she would consider that a success.

"I have to get back to my practice in a few minutes, so as much as I'd like to sit and have a long conversation with you about your behavior today, that's gonna have to wait. I will say this: I've reached my limit with the manipulation and doing whatever you can think of to get around your punishment. I'm done, Rachel. I think I've been more than understanding and patient with you. That stops now," Shelby lectured, her tone never rising above a conversational level. She knew from experience as a teacher and coach that if you really wanted to get a kid's attention, you spoke softly to them. It unnerved them a hell of a lot more than yelling ever could.

Rachel slunk down in the chair and prayed the floor would open and swallow her whole. She didn't like the look her mother was giving her and she had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that she wasn't going to like her mom's next words.

"I told you this morning that you were not allowed to sing in the auditorium and you were given extra chores for continuing to argue about it. I thought for sure that would get your attention, especially since I warned you you had one more chance to fix your behavior before this afternoon. You didn't even _try_ , Rachel. You completely ignored me and what's more, you went behind my back and tried to talk your teacher into letting you use the auditorium during lunch. And when he said no, you ignored him too. And finally, Rachel, you skipped class to not only disobey me but Mr. Schuester as well," Shelby said, her words coming fast now as anger mounted. "For all those reasons, you've lost Glee next week too. And if we keep having to have this same conversation, I have no problem adding a week each time."

"No, Mom, please! That's not true! I didn't!"

"No? Then tell me what's not true about what I just said, Rachel. No you didn't manipulate my words and Mr. Schuester's to do exactly as you wanted? No you didn't completely disobey the very clear rules we both set for you? Please, Rachel, by all means, explain."

Rachel was backed into a corner and again, her mouth ran away from her, just like it did any time she found herself in a precarious position and tried to talk her way out of it. It hardly ever worked out for her, maybe once every ten times, but she couldn't help herself.

"But I followed your rules! I know you said I wasn't allowed to sing in the auditorium after school and I wasn't going to. And Mr. Schue said no to lunchtime too and I listened. I had a free period this afternoon and I didn't think it would be against the rules."

"You didn't think skipping class to go sing in the auditorium was against the rules?" Shelby echoed in disbelief. For a brief moment, she seriously considered yanking the girl over her knees and making it crystal clear just how against the rules that really was, but opted for taking several deep breaths instead.

"I didn't skip!" Rachel insisted. "I had permission!"

"Really, Rachel Barbra? You honestly want me to believe you had permission from your last period teacher to spend your class time in the auditorium?" Shelby demanded, her voice quickly rising. She wasn't quite yelling yet, but it wasn't far off.

Rachel squirmed under her mother's piercing glare and raked her teeth over her lip as she tried to backpedal. "Well, I—not exactly, but—"

"But what? You said you had permission. What did you have permission for?"

"Mom," the girl couldn't help the whine that escaped. "Really, it's not—"

"Answer my question, Rachel," Shelby growled, what little patience she had managed to hold onto up until this point completely vanishing.

"I-I...Mrs. Roberts gave me a hall pass to visit the nurse," the girl admitted, averting her eyes. Her mom looked ready to murder her. And if that was the case, she'd rather not see it coming.

"So we can add lying to your list of offenses today. Brilliant. We'll be discussing that more in-depth later, young lady."

"No! I didn't!" the girl argued, eyes darting back up.

"Stop it!" Shelby snapped. "You absolutely lied! Every choice you've made today has been dishonest! You manipulated mine and Mr. Schuester's words to fit your needs and then you told your teacher whatever you needed to to get out of class. It goes right back to you not accepting and respecting this punishment that you have so rightfully earned! Nothing you've done since last night—trying to guilt me into relenting, or arguing with me this morning, now your calculated actions at school—has been a mistake. You deliberately set out to sneak around and find loopholes in the rules to get what you wanted."

The mother was full-on screaming now, at her absolute wits' end with this child. She was angry. Rachel's behavior infuriated her. The girl wouldn't relent and admit she had done wrong. She wasn't even the slightest bit repentant; she just continued to argue that she didn't do the things Shelby knew for a fact she had.

Shelby took a much-needed pause after coming up for air at the end of her tongue-lashing to assess the situation. She knew she was far too angry to continue this conversation right now. While everything she said was what Rachel absolutely needed to hear, the way she went about it wasn't going to teach her daughter anything. As it was, the girl was softly crying and had pushed her chair back several inches in order to put more distance between her and the raving lunatic Shelby was at the moment. A healthy dose of 'Oh shit, Mom's pissed' fear was fine with Shelby, but she didn't want to outright scare the kid. She toed the line just before and it was time to step back. Besides, she had to get back to practice.

A long sigh settled emotions and the mother reached for the box of tissues behind her. Setting the box in Rachel's lap, Shelby rounded her desk and pulled out a legal pad and pen. Eyes flicked to sniffling child, then back down. A sentence was written at the top of the first page before she flipped two sheets over. Another sentence, two more flips, and then a third and final sentence.

Returning to her perch in front of her daughter, Shelby regarded her with a softer expression. Tears were still making silent tracks down youthful cheeks and the mother didn't miss the way Rachel tensed at her presence. Without a word, Shelby reached forward and pulled the girl to her feet.

Rachel let out a startled gasp at the sudden movement. Before she could put up a fight, her hip bumped into the side of her mom's leg and she sucked in a breath, expecting to be upended at any second. She was surprised when she was pulled into a hug instead.

The girl let out a relieved sigh and soaked up the much-needed comfort. She was glad that, even as angry as her mom was with her right now, she still made sure Rachel knew she was loved.

Shelby needed that moment of comfort just as much as her daughter. After all the anger and screaming, it was nice to ground herself again and hold her child close. With a quick kiss to a cheek and a firm pat to skirt-covered bottom, Shelby pulled back and held Rachel at arm's length.

"I really need to get back to practice now. I want you to sit at my desk and finish your homework, and when you're done that, you can write lines for me—two pages front and back for each, write normally, no skipping lines in between, and you must write the sentence out completely before moving on. Is that clear?"

Rachel nodded, surprised at the lines but not daring to argue.

"Good," Shelby said as she stood. She guided Rachel around to her chair and had the girl sit while she placed her book bag on the desk. She then fixed her child with a firm stare that had Rachel squirming uneasily. "You are to stay in this office until I come get you. The only reason you may leave is for a bathroom break but I expect you to come right back. Got it?"

Again Rachel nodded. Shelby hoped that was the case but wanted to make it crystal clear for the girl. "So help me, Rachel, if you disobey me, I will turn you over my knee the moment I find you and I don't care where it is or who sees. Do _not_ test me on this, little girl."

The teen's mouth went dry and her heart rate skyrocketed. She didn't doubt her mother's words for one second and vowed she wouldn't leave her seat let alone the room. Her mom was still staring at her, probably expecting an answer. Rachel swallowed hard and tried to find her voice.

"I-I won't. I swear."

Shelby nodded, satisfied. "I love you, Rachel. I'll be back in fifty minutes." And with that, she left.

Rachel held her breath until the door shut behind her mother, then let it out through her mouth so her cheeks puffed out. She pulled out her homework and turned to the assigned reading. Quickly flipping through the pages, she was alarmed at how long the story actually was. This would take her longer than originally thought and her mom wanted her to write lines afterwards—all within fifty minutes.

The girl sniffed and wiped at her eyes, beginning to feel flustered. Her mind was still reeling with her mother's words, making it difficult to concentrate on her work. Ten minutes passed and Rachel had read the first paragraph at least a hundred times without retaining a word of it.

She pushed her book and binder to the side in favor of the yellow legal pad her mother had left for her. If she couldn't do her homework, she could at least get the lines done. After all, it was only two pages, front and back, and Rachel was a fast writer, especially in cursive. And maybe once that was out of the way, her mind would settle down enough for her to finish her homework.

Eyes turned to the sentence written in her mother's elegant hand: _I will not manipulate people or situations to get my way._ The teen sighed, not surprised that _this_ was the line her mom wanted her to copy over and over. It was the same thing Shelby had been saying all along. Rachel just hadn't listened.

Fingers flipped two pages as Rachel tried to get a sense of how long it would take her to finish. Her eyes then caught another sentence and her stomach dropped. Suddenly her mother's remark about two pages each made much more sense. This sentence was about the same length as the first, reiterating another point her mom had been trying to make. _I will not lie or sneak around to do what I want._

Rachel turned another two pages and saw the longest sentence yet. Panicking, she flipped another two pages. A sigh of relief escaped once she was certain that was the last sentence. Eyes scanned the words, taking them in: _I will respect and accept the rules set for me by my parents and teachers, even if I don't agree with them, because they aren't mine to change._

The tears that had all but stopped started full force again as her mom's words began to sink in. Guilt gnawed at the girl's insides as she thought over her recent actions—trying to trick her mother last night into thinking she was still sore from her punishment, not accepting her mom's or Mr. Schue's decision about the auditorium, and lying to poor old Mrs. Roberts this afternoon. Rachel couldn't blame her mother for being so angry with her. All of her arguing and trying to talk her way out of trouble certainly hadn't helped. No wonder her mom yelled at her the way she had.

Rachel cried her way through the first set of lines and had about half a page done of the second when the door opened and Shelby walked in.

To say Shelby was shocked at the sight she walked in on would be an understatement. She had expected her daughter to be subdued and working on either her homework or lines. She never expected to see a sobbing child hunched over the desk, hand flying across a legal pad. Wet, startled eyes looked up and her daughter's face crumpled as crying increased.

Rachel was up and running towards her mother before the door had even closed. She crashed into the woman, burying her face in Shelby's neck as she let out a broken sob.

"I'm so s-sorry, Mommy," she cried, words muffled against Shelby's skin.

"Hey, hey," Shelby soothed, arms coming up to wrap tightly around shaking shoulders. "Calm down, love. You're going to make yourself sick crying like that."

"I understand n-now why you're so a-a-angry with me and I don't—don't blame you! I'm sorry I lied and argued and m-m-manipulated you and Mr. Schue and M-Mrs. Roberts. S-Sorry I didn't listen and wasn't re—respectful. I'm just so sorry!"

Shelby couldn't understand half of her daughter's words as hard as the girl was crying, but she caught enough to get the gist. She rubbed circles on the teen's back and rocked them gently as she hummed a soft tune and waited for the worst of the tears to subside.

"I'm glad to hear you were able to think things through with your time alone, Rach. I was able to clear my head too and I'm ready to discuss your actions with you much more calmly than before. I don't want to do that here though, so let's get our things together and head to the car."

Shelby pulled back, offering a kiss to her child's forehead as she wiped at the girl's tears with the pads of her thumbs. "Stop crying now, kiddo. We'll talk about everything at home. It's going to be all right," she soothed. Then, with one last reassuring squeeze to Rachel's shoulder, she sidestepped the girl to gather their things.

Rachel's heart beat quickened as her mom peered over her open textbook and the blank sheet of loose leaf in her binder that was supposed to have her completed assignment on it before picking up the legal pad. It only occurred to her now that her mother would probably be upset that she had started on the lines before finishing her schoolwork. The woman had, after all, told her to do her homework and _then_ write lines. Rachel had only wanted to be productive and have something to show for her efforts, but what if her mom didn't see it that way? What if Shelby thought she had been ignoring her words and disobeying again?

Shelby turned over the first page and then the second, impressed by her daughter's progress. The girl had completed twice as many lines as Shelby had expected in the allotted time and even done so with impeccable penmanship. She let the pad fall to the desk and raised her eyes to meet her daughter's.

"You got a lot done, Rach. I'm proud of you," she offered with a smile, not missing the surprised expression on her child's face.

"You are? But I didn't finish," Rachel said, flabbergasted.

"I never expected you to, kid," Shelby chuckled. "You can work on it again tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Rachel, you didn't seriously think I'd leave you to your own devices in the afternoons after your stunt today," the mother raised a sculpted eyebrow. "You'll be sitting right here in this office every day until your restriction is over."

Rachel's mouth fell open in shock, not having expected that pronouncement. She could only watch in silence as her mom packed up her schoolbooks and set her lines off to the side to pick up again tomorrow.

"But we can talk about that later. Did you get all your homework done?"

The teen's momentarily forgotten worry returned full force at her mother's question. Hazel eyes met brown and Rachel shifted uncomfortably. "N-No, I didn't...I couldn't concentrate on it—but I swear I tried, Mom," she confessed, hanging her head in anticipation of the woman's reaction.

"That's okay, you'll have time to work on it before dinner. I'll even help you with it if you want," Shelby said, shouldering Rachel's backpack and grabbing her tote bag.

Rachel's head snapped up, once more surprised at her mom's words.

"Let's go, kid. We've got a busy evening ahead of us, lots of stuff still to deal with. I don't want to get stuck in traffic."

Rachel gulped at the "stuff still to deal with" comment and followed Shelby out of the building and to the car in complete silence, wondering what her mom meant. What stuff?

The teen kept pondering that question as they drove towards home. _Does she mean talking about today? Or my punishment?_ the girl thought. _But why wouldn't she just say that?_

Shelby felt her daughter's eyes on her every few minutes and saw the girl open and close her mouth, clearly wanting to say something but chickening out. "What are you thinking, Rach?" she asked after the fourth time the girl clamped her mouth shut.

Rachel's head snapped up in surprise. The car ride had been so quiet, and she hadn't expected her mother to say anything. "Wha—I—Nothing," came her automatic reply.

"I can practically hear the wheels turning up there, kid. You want to ask me something," said Shelby, giving her child a sidelong glance.

Rachel sighed. It was true, she _did_ want to ask her mom a question. She wanted to know what was going to happen when they got home and if what she was thinking was what her mom meant when she said they had _"lots of stuff still to deal with"_ —she just hadn't mustered up the courage to ask yet. Besides, if Shelby _wasn't_ thinking what Rachel was, the girl didn't want to say it and give her mom any ideas. On the other hand...not knowing was gnawing at her insides. At least if she knew, she could start preparing.

With much squirming and flushed cheeks, Rachel blurted out her question. "Are you going to spank me when we get home?" There. It was out in the universe and while embarrassing and nerve-racking, at least the answer was about to come out.

Shelby thought over her daughter's question for a moment. If the girl had asked that earlier this afternoon, Shelby would have said yes. After all, she had been seriously considering it given Rachel's behavior at school and then her blatant refusal to accept any responsibility for her actions. Now though, with the child she had come back to after practice, she wasn't so sure.

"What do you think I should do?" the mother asked, deciding to see what the girl thought. Perhaps her answer would help Shelby figure it out.

"You're asking me?" Rachel asked incredulously, staring at her mother as if she had two heads.

"I am," Shelby confirmed. "Do you think I should spank you for your behavior?"

The girl's mouth hung open slightly as she considered her mom's words. She didn't want to be spanked. At all! But...that's not what her mother had asked her. She asked if she _should_ be spanked.

"I...I really don't want you to but I—it's not my decision to make," Rachel said after several minutes. "I know I broke the rules, Mom. I know you have to punish me for it and...I know it's not up for negotiation."

"That's a very mature answer, Rachel," Shelby praised. "I'm glad you understand that you don't make the rules or decide the consequences when you break them. And you _never_ get to pick and choose the ones you're going to follow, either."

Rachel squirmed at her mother's firm tone and the look that went along with it. "I know," she replied meekly. "I'm sorry I've been arguing with you and trying to talk my way around the rules. I guess I knew it wasn't really going to work but I—I did it anyway. I figured maybe I could wear you down eventually or, I dunno, you wouldn't find out." Rachel let out a long sigh and raised her eyes tentatively to look at her mom. "I knew what I was doing was wrong and I'm really _really_ sorry, Mom."

"Well, I'm happy to hear you regret your actions and are finally taking responsibility for them—that's something you wouldn't do an hour ago—but I wish you would have taken me at my word last night or even this morning when I told you that arguing and trying to manipulate me would only end in more trouble for you," Shelby chided and Rachel hung her head.

"I know," the girl said, tears clinging to lashes. "I should have listened to you. I-I'm sorry I disobeyed."

"Yes, you should have listened, kiddo. Then all of this could have been avoided. Now you're in for quite a lecture and more consequences piled onto what you already have," Shelby said, her voice turning gentle. Rachel was blinking back tears and sniffling and the mother just didn't have it in her to continue with the stern facade. Rachel was finally getting it; she could afford to tone it down.

"I understand," Rachel said, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. She took a deep breath and glanced at her Mom. "I guess that means..." Her gaze fell and she stared at her fidgeting hands instead. "You're gonna spa—er—you know...when we get home?"

Cheeks grew red and more tears fell as Rachel chewed her lip and waited. Her mother sighed and Rachel could feel her staring. She turned her head ever so slowly, eyes taking their time meeting hazel.

"No, baby, I'm not," Shelby said, not missing the look of pure relief on her daughter's face before having to turn her attention back to the road. "You've shown me that you understand what you've done wrong and are taking responsibility for it. You've told me you're sorry and I can see that you are. What's more, you haven't _once_ tried to talk me out of spanking you. You're finally accepting that it's my job to make these types of decisions because I'm the parent. You don't have to like every decision I make, but you do have to respect them—and your current behavior proves to me that you are."

Rachel couldn't help but smile at the revelation that she wasn't about to be face down over her mother's lap for the second time in twenty-four hours. "Thank you, Mommy," she said sincerely.

Shelby chuckled and reached her right hand out to pat her daughter's knee. "Don't thank me just yet, little girl," Shelby teased. "There's still plenty of consequences in your near future. It's not like I'm letting you off scot-free."

Rachel gave a sly smirk and shrugged. "I'm just glad I won't need a pillow at dinner."

 **Bottoms Up * Bottoms Up * Bottoms Up**

Rachel leaned back with a sigh and shook her right hand out. She had been sitting at the dining table for about thirty minutes now, writing out an apology letter to Mr. Schuester for her actions today. She had to write one for Mrs. Roberts as well, as part of her punishment. This was after writing all those lines in her mother's office and then finishing her Lit homework as soon as they got home nearly two hours ago. Her hand _hurt_. Still, she supposed it was better than having a sore butt—or worse, a sore butt on top of her aching hand!

The letters weren't the only thing her mom had dealt her this evening. After Shelby had gotten dinner in the oven, she sat Rachel down and gave the girl one hell of a lecture that reduced Rachel to tears not even halfway through it. Shelby pointed out that if Rachel had only listened, they wouldn't be sitting here dealing with this unpleasantness now. In fact, if Rachel had followed her mom's and then Mr. Schuester's rules, she'd have already been done her punishment chores and she would be free to sing as much as she wanted— _at home_. Her mom even said that she had been planning to sing with her tonight, but instead, she was spending her evening writing out letters of apology to her teachers. And, as Shelby had already told her this afternoon, she lost another week of Glee and with it, her freedom after school. For the next eight days, her mother would pick her up directly after school and take her to Carmel so Rachel could spend roughly seventy minutes in her office not doing what she wanted.

The consequences were gone over again as they sat down to dinner, explained in detail as the rules and expectations were fastidiously spelled out. She was then told that tomorrow she was expected to finish her lines during VA practice and then come home to complete the list of chores given to her this morning. After that part of her punishment was over, Shelby said that as long as there wasn't any more rule-breaking involving Glee (or school in general), and after she got her homework done in the afternoons, she would be free to do as she pleased once they got home.

After dinner, Rachel was sent into the kitchen to wash all of the dinner dishes by hand, just as her mother promised this morning. So not only was her hand sore, her fingers were pruny as well.

"How's it going, Rach?" Shelby asked as she came into the dining room. She placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder and read the letter over the girl's head, nodding in approval.

"I'm almost done with Mr. Schue's," Rachel said, massaging her wrist and palm with a small pout.

Shelby offered her child a sympathetic smile while running her fingers through the teen's hair. "You're doing a great job, kid. You letter is heartfelt and remorseful, and you've done a good job taking responsibility for your behavior. I'm sure Mr. Schuester will appreciate the effort you put into this—I know I do. It shows that you are truly taking this lesson to heart. I'm proud of you."

Rachel felt the all-too-familiar lump forming in her throat as her eyes misted over for what felt like the millionth time that day. After everything she had done today, her mom still found it in her heart to tell Rachel how proud she was of her. The girl didn't think she deserved that praise right now, but it was touching all the same.

"Hey, no more tears, sweetheart." Shelby moved to sit next to her child and lifted her chin so their eyes met. She wiped a few stray tears away and kissed Rachel's cheek. "I think you've cried enough today. You've been forgiven and you're certainly being punished enough. It's time to move on from this."

A choked sob escaped pink lips and Rachel fell into her mother's arms. "I'm so sorry, Mom. I promise I'll never—never ever—disobey you a-again. _Ever!_ "

"Oh, okay, kiddo," Shelby's laughter vibrated against Rachel's cheek pressed to her chest. "I don't think you can keep that promise, baby, but I appreciate the sentiment."

The pair stayed like that for a time, enjoying the peace that had settled over them, before Shelby pulled back, hands smoothing down hair on either side of Rachel's face. A soft smile and kiss to forehead was given before hands fell.

"Time to get back to work, kid," Shelby said, patting Rachel's knee and standing up.

Rachel watched her Mom head back into the living room and sighed as she heard the TV turn on. She wanted to be in there with her, but she was stuck at the table writing letters. Another sigh as she picked up her pen, tapping it against the paper as she read over what she had.

Twenty minutes later, Rachel had two completed letters and a cramping hand. But she was relieved to be finished. Tossing the pen down so it skidded across the table, the girl pushed her chair back and stood and stretched. She then grabbed her letters and headed for her mother.

Shelby saw movement out of the corner of her eye and muted the tv just as Rachel flopped down next to her. "All done?" she asked the girl, slinging an arm around her shoulders and holding her hand out for the letters. "Let's see."

Rachel handed her work over and chewed her lip as she waited for her mom's judgment. She knew the letter to Mrs. Roberts was barely half the length of the one for Mr. Schue, but she didn't have as much to apologize for. She tried to be just as forthright and sincere as her first letter and hoped her mom saw that.

"Great job, Rach. I want you to give these letters to your teachers first thing in the morning, and I want you to apologize to them in person as well. Understood?"

"Yes, Mom. I will, I promise—first thing," Rachel agreed.

Shelby nodded and set the papers down on the coffee table before settling back on the couch cushions and bringing Rachel with her. She kissed her girl's head and unmuted the volume, getting lost in the show and her child's happy chatter.

By eight-thirty, Rachel had all but forgotten all of the negatives from the past two days. That was, until her phone began ringing. Her heart jumped into her throat when she saw her fathers' faces light up the screen with their FaceTime call. Her thumb hovered over the accept button as she prepared herself for the inevitable shit hitting the fan.

Shelby turned the tv off when she realized who was calling and sat up, forcing her daughter to do the same. She rolled her eyes at the girl's hesitation and accepted the call for her.

"Hey guys," she greeted with a warm smile. "How's vacation treating you?"

"Hi Shelbs! Hi Pumpkin!" Hiram grinned, blowing a kiss to each brunette beauty staring back at him.

"We're having the time of our lives! They had karaoke last night in the ballroom. Dad and I of course had to get up there. We got a standing ovation," LeRoy gushed. "How's it going on your end?"

Rachel gulped and turned big eyes onto her mother, silently pleading, but Shelby only raised a brow and tilted her head towards the screen.

"Go on, Rachel, tell your dads what you've been up to," Shelby said, her soft tone belying the command behind her words.

Rachel shook her head just barely, but the look her mom gave her coupled with the firm tap to her hip had the girl scrambling to obey.

"Daddies, I—before you say anything, Mom already punished me and I promise I've learned my lesson. It's just that, um...Well, I—"

"You had a party at the house, didn't you? Is the place a wreck? Did anything break? Oh God, were the cops called? How much alcohol was there? Was there a keg, Rachel?" LeRoy cut through his daughter's nervous rambling with some of his own.

"Wha—Daddy, no, I—"

"There wasn't a keg, LeRoy," Shelby couldn't help but laugh at the man's reaction. "Or a party. But Rachel did swipe some alcohol from your cabinet. She decided to take it to school to share with her friends—right before performing at the Alcohol Awareness Assembly, ironically enough."

"Oh my God, Rachel!" LeRoy scolded, even more questions coming to mind at this revelation.

"What did the school do?" Hiram said at the same time.

Shelby reassured the men that there hadn't been any official school involvement, explaining that the principal thought it had been a planned stunt for the assembly. She went on to say that it was Will Schuester who had clued the parents in so it could be dealt with quietly. The fathers let out relieved sighs before jumping into a long discussion (lecture) with their daughter, demanding answers to questions Rachel really didn't want to have to answer—again.

The fathers really laid into the girl over going into their liquor cabinet—she knew it was way off limits. They didn't even know how she had gotten in there as both were positive that it was locked when they left. The girl eventually confessed to knowing where the key was hidden, which caused Shelby to grill the girl on what she had told her originally about the cabinet being unlocked to begin with.

"It doesn't really matter if it was unlocked or not, the real matter here is you had absolutely no business going in there at all," LeRoy said to get the conversation back on track.

"I-I'm sorry, Daddy," Rachel said, tears welling as she slunk further down in her seat. Shelby was giving her a piercing glare and she was trying her best to avoid eye contact at the moment. She hated being caught in a lie with the woman. She just hoped her mom wouldn't ask any more questions once this call was over.

"How many bottles did you take and what were they?" Hiram questioned. "I'm going to tell you right now, you are going to be paying for every single bottle that is missing out of your allowance. And your father and I have expensive taste—some of those bottles in there cost hundreds of dollars. You better pray you didn't take one of those."

Rachel was shocked to hear that news and began to panic trying to remember how many bottles she and her friends had gone through at the party. She honestly had no clue. She didn't even know what was in most of the bottles and she certainly didn't know how expensive they were.

"I-I...I don't know," she stammered, heart racing.

"I can stop by the house tomorrow and take a look," Shelby offered. "If I snap a few photos, do you think you'll be able to tell what's missing?"

"Yeah, that should be fine. Thanks Shelby," LeRoy replied.

Rachel was reeling. She was dead...she was dead... _she was dead_. There was no way the party would remain a secret after Shelby's investigation. Her dads would know exactly how many bottles were missing—too many bottles for Rachel to have nicked simply for the shots at school. And then Shelby would kill her.

Her fathers continued their dressing down, completely unaware of the turmoil raging within their daughter. Rachel was so focused on her upcoming murder that she didn't register much of her dads' rebuke. It was only when she heard the word "spanking" that she realized her mom had moved on to telling them about her punishment—but she couldn't even bother feeling embarrassed, as the steady mantra of _'Oh shit, I'm dead_ ' filled every fiber of her being.

Shelby then dove directly into everything that had happened today and again told them each of her consequences. LeRoy and Hiram delivered a shorter lecture, emphasizing the need to respect Shelby and her rules. The girl didn't hear a word, but nodded along and offered apologies and promises at all the right times, so her dads were appeased.

"Well, I think that about covers it," LeRoy said, giving his daughter one last glare. "Rachel, I think your mom was fair in dishing out those punishments and I don't feel we need to add anything on to that, but nothing like this better _ever_ happen again. Got it?"

Rachel swallowed hard and nodded. "Yes, Daddy." She could guarantee nothing like this would happen again. Her mom was going to kill her before she could even _think_ about attempting it again (not that she would!).

"I hope that's true, Rachel," Hiram growled, pointing his finger at the screen. "But touch our alcohol again before you hit legal age and I swear you'll find yourself over my knee getting your butt blistered—whether your mom has gotten to you first or not."

Rachel gasped and shook her head fervently as tears went flying. It was bad enough worrying about the inevitable trip over her mother's knee as soon as the truth came out without having her dad jump on the butt-busting bandwagon too. She was _beyond_ dead.

Once more the dads were utterly oblivious that Rachel's thoughts were far away as they said their goodbyes. "We love you, Rachel. Please be good for your mother," LeRoy said, blowing a kiss.

"Behave, Rachel," Hiram repeated his husband's sentiment much more sternly. His next words were gentle. "I love you, Pumpkin. We'll see you on Sunday."

"L-Love you toooo," the girl cried, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Bye guys. Enjoy the rest of your vacation. Be safe! Love you and see you soon!" Shelby said before ending the call.

Shelby set the teen's phone on the coffee table and then turned to face her, eyebrow raised. "So, Rach…about that key."

Rachel paled as startled eyes darted up to meet hazel only to drop just as quickly. "Mom, I—"

The mother held her hand up to silence her child and let the girl sweat for a moment under a watchful eye. "You're not in trouble over it, Rachel—but this is your one get out of jail free card. Going forward, no lies. When I ask you a question, I expect an honest answer from you. It is _never_ okay to lie to me. Understood?"

"Yes, Mom," Rachel sniffled. "I'm sorry."

"Good," Shelby said with a nod. "Now, one last thing. Lying isn't just about words, it includes your actions as well. Today you were deliberately dishonest—you twisted rules and snuck around to do what you wanted and lied to your teachers when it suited you. That ends here, Rachel. I didn't spank you this afternoon because I think the lesson was well learned, but I _promise_ you, young lady, if there is a repeat of _any_ of this behavior—lying, being manipulative, sneaking around—you will be feeling more than just my hand on your bare bottom. Do I make myself clear?"

Rachel's mouth went dry and her heart jumped into her throat at the same time her stomach dropped to her feet, leaving her feeling off balance and like she was about to throw up. She already knew she was facing a spanking as soon as the party came to light—maybe two if her dad's threat was to be taken seriously—but now it would be with some sort of implement? She had done all of those things she was just warned about. She knew it and it was only a matter of time before her mom knew it too.

She could feel her mother's eyes on her and knew she needed to say something. She swallowed a few times, trying to find her voice. "Yes, ma-ma'am," she stammered in little more than a whisper. That title sounded foreign on her tongue—she had _never_ called anyone ma'am, and certainly not her mom—but it just seemed appropriate in this instance.

Shelby was surprised at being called ma'am—not even her VA kids ever dared to call her that—but didn't show it. She had gotten through to her girl and that's all that mattered.

"Alright, Rachel, it's time for bed," Shelby said, standing and pulling the teen up with her. "Go get ready; I'll be up to tuck you in shortly." Turning the child in the direction of the stairs, she delivered one almighty swat that Shelby swore she could almost feel on her own bottom.

Rachel sucked in a shaky breath at the shear force of the spank, then let it out with a sob as the pain blossomed across her cheek. "Owwhowhoww." Hands flew back to clutch her bottom to both ease the sting and protect from further chastisement as she ran from the room.

Shelby let out a sad sigh as she watched her child run crying from the room. It broke her heart to be the reason for that, but she felt her girl needed a firm reminder that her recent actions were unacceptable and wouldn't be tolerated going forward.

* * *

 **A/N: That's it for this chapter! In the next one, Rachel struggles with telling her mom the truth and Shelby has to decide if she's prepared to follow through on her promise to Rachel to use more than her hand. Plus more of the dads and finally a happy ending for all. :)**

 **If you have a minute, leave a review. Tell me what you think! What do you think will happen in the next chapter? Or what are you hoping will happen?**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello Dear Readers! Back with another update. Super happy and proud of myself for being able to get one up again so quickly! I've been enjoying having my muse back and have been taking every possible advantage I've had to write. This story has taken on a life of its own and this is not the last chapter. There is still so much to explore and tie up in a neat little bow with this story so there will be at least one more chapter after this one. In this one, Rachel struggles with her guilt and telling her mother the truth. Shelby, in turn, has to decide whether or not to follow through with her promised consequence should Rachel lie, manipulate, or sneak around again (we all know Rachel is guilty of all three of those things). I personally feel for both Rachel and Shelby in this chapter. None of it is easy for either of them. But enough blabbing. Let's get on with the show!**

 **Love from,**

 **DARecruit**

* * *

 **Bottoms Up: Chapter Four**

Rachel headed straight for her bathroom, lowering her pajama bottoms and panties as she turned to inspect her posterior in the mirror. The spot where her mother's hard hand made contact was warm and pink and stung so much more than one swat ever should.

The girl bit her lip and rubbed at the sore spot as tears made their way down her face. Her stomach twisted in on itself as she weighed her options. Her mom was going to learn the truth one way or another. Rachel knew she had to confess, but the idea of doing that _now_ , when her butt still throbbed from that single warning swat, was too much. If she already hurt this much after one spank from her mother's hand, she was _really_ in for it once the woman was wielding a spoon or hairbrush or whatever it was that she was going to use on her.

Suddenly the image of Santana gingerly sitting on the hard plastic chair in the choir room this morning rose unbidden to the forefront of Rachel's mind. Brittany had told everyone that Mrs. Lopez had spanked Santana with a wooden spoon. Santana had still clearly been feeling the effects of that punishment twelve hours later. Would that happen to Rachel too?

 _Well now I_ _ **really**_ _can't tell right now,_ the girl thought. It was already nearing nine-thirty; twelve hours later would put her in second period. Would she have to ease into her chairs too? What if she squirmed? Would her classmates notice and guess what happened? The embarrassment alone would kill her.

Mind swirled as her mother's threat played once more in her ears and a thought occurred to her. A glimmer of hope bubbled up inside her. Her mom had said a _repeat_ of that behavior would earn her an implement. Repeat meant it happening in the future, and the party was now in the past. Surely that meant a reprieve if she told the truth. And maybe she wouldn't even be spanked at all! She had, after all, already been punished for drinking.

 _Tomorrow. I'll tell her tomorrow,_ Rachel decided, that beacon of hope casting a much-needed light on her worries. Everything was going to be just fine. With one last rub to her bottom, she righted her clothes and grabbed her toothbrush. _Maybe I should text her during school...give her time to calm down, in case I'm wrong about her reaction._

Rachel brought the toothbrush to her mouth and began brushing. _What if that only makes it worse?_

With that thought, reality crashed back down around her, making her feel nauseous. With a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, the girl realized she was trying to manipulate the situation again to get out of trouble on a technicality. It hadn't been a conscious decision, like it had with the entire auditorium mess, but there it was all the same. Her mother's earlier lectures echoed loudly, bouncing off the inside of her head, and her hand began to cramp once more as she thought over the lines she had written this afternoon. _I will not manipulate people or situations to get my way. I will not lie or sneak around to do what I want._

All of her punishments flashed behind her eyes and guilt crept in and settled heavily on her stomach. What was she doing? Hadn't she gotten into enough trouble these last two days? She had disappointed all three of her parents. She had lied and snuck around and been caught and punished. She had promised all of them several times over that she'd never repeat this behavior and here she was not even an hour later doing it all over again. She was breaking her promise—had been breaking it all day—and that realization hurt. How were her parents ever going to trust her again?

She had to tell the truth. It was the only way to show her mom and dads that she was hearing their lectures and learning from them.

She had to come clean tonight—as soon as her mom came upstairs. It would only be worse the longer she waited. She had to accept whatever her mother doled out. Even...even if that meant feeling the crack of a wooden spoon across her bare ass.

Rachel headed for her bed, crying hard. Knowing she had to confess and even deciding to do it didn't make it any easier to face. She hated that she was going to see that disappointed expression darkening Shelby's beautiful features once more. It seemed like that was the only expression she had seen on her mother's face these last forty-eight hours. Disappointed, angry, upset. She'd see it on her fathers' faces again when they found out.

Guilt gnawed at her knowing how badly she had messed up—again. Knowing how upset her parents were going to be when they found out. And especially knowing that she was going to be punished again and she had made it worse for herself by not telling the truth sooner.

She had had the opportunity to confess forty minutes ago when her daddy asked if she had a party. They'd have all been mad and she probably would have wound up over her mother's lap then and there, but maybe she could have avoided both her mom and dad's threats.

Hell, she had the opportunity the day before to tell the whole truth. Her mom had asked her point blank if she had lied about the weekend. Rachel said no and then continued to lie. If only she had come clean then, she wouldn't be worried about more spankings now. It truly would have been over.

Shelby climbed the stairs fifteen minutes after sending her daughter up them. She tapped the knuckle of her index finger against the teen's open bedroom door before walking in. Her heart went out to her girl at the sight of the teen hunched against her headboard with her knees drawn up and arms resting atop them. Tears continued to fall steadily down flushed cheeks. Red, puffy eyes lifted at her entrance and Shelby was seated and had the girl in her arms in a flash.

Rachel flung her arms around Shelby's neck, letting herself fall apart in the safety of her mother's arms.

"Shhh, shhh baby," Shelby soothed, rocking them and rubbing Rachel's back to calm her. "Everything's over, sweetheart. There's no need to keep crying, okay? You're okay. It's all okay."

"'M s-s-ssssooorryyyyy, M-Mommmmy. Sooo soorrryyy," the girl sobbed unintelligibly.

"You've been forgiven, Rachel baby," Shelby said loudly, so she'd be heard over the wailing child. "You need to calm down before you make yourself sick. Hush now."

Rachel was a mess. The guilt and worry was becoming too much for her, rising inside her like bile, wanting to be set free. All she had to do was open her mouth.

The girl swallowed hard a few times as she mustered up the courage to say what she needed to, not noticing the sudden increase of saliva in her mouth.

"Mom, I—" Her stomach chose that moment to turn inside out and before she knew what was truly happening, she was vomiting all over herself and her mom.

"Oh!" Shelby exclaimed, pulling back out of instinct. Rachel cried harder as she retched again.

Shelby wasn't normally good in this sort of situation, but the fact that it was her child made all the difference. She held Rachel's hair back and comforted her as best she could and just let her finish heaving on the bed. She figured it would be easier to clean up afterwards if the mess was contained to one area.

Rachel coughed and wiped at the snot and tears dripping down her face and looked up at her mom with apologetic eyes. It was then that she noticed the vomit covering her mother's shirt and sobbed out an incoherent "I'm sorry."

"Baby, it's okay," Shelby soothed, brushing Rachel's sweaty bangs off her forehead. "Are you...finished, do you think?" she added uncertainly.

Rachel nodded and allowed her mom to help her up from the bed and into her en-suite. She didn't argue when Shelby carefully removed her soiled pajamas and put her in the shower.

"Do you want me to stay and help or can you do it yourself?" Shelby asked the girl as she went into the linen closet to pull out a clean towel and wash cloth.

"I c-c-can d-do it," the girl sputtered.

"Okay, love. Call me if you need me. I'm gonna strip your bed so I'll be right out here," Shelby said, pulling her own shirt off and adding it to her daughter's pile.

She hurried to the teen's bed and carefully folded the comforter over so the mess was on the inside, then stripped the blanket and sheets in one move. She grabbed the clothes from the bathroom, tucked them into the sheets, and then headed for the laundry room.

Returning several minutes later in a fresh shirt and sweats (for good measure), Shelby was surprised to hear the water turn off. She had expected Rachel to take a longer time in the shower. She moved to the dresser to pull out a pair of undies and a sleep shirt for the girl, forgoing pants as Rachel hardly ever wore them to bed anyway.

"How are you feeling, baby?" the mother asked as she brought the clothes into the bathroom and set them on the counter.

Rachel pulled the curtain back and was surprised to find her mom standing on the other side holding out a towel for her, eyes full of concern as she waited for Rachel's answer.

Rachel took the offered towel and just held it as her mind whirled. She had calmed down considerably during her shower, practicing what she was going to say. Now that the time had come to confess, she wasn't sure she could do it.

 _Just say it. Rip the band aid off!_ Rachel scolded herself. Taking a deep breath, the girl let the words tumble quickly from her mouth before she could overthink it again. As she said it, relief washed over her at finally being free of that secret. It was short-lived, however, as it suddenly occurred to her, standing stark naked and dripping wet, that her backside was completely vulnerable to her mother's hand. All Shelby had to do was sit on the closed toilet seat and haul Rachel over her knee. And when her mom didn't say anything, only took a step towards her while reaching her hand out, she feared she was about to do just that.

Shelby took the towel back from her child and began to dry the girl off. "You never answered my question, kid," she said as she focused on Rachel's hair. "Are you feeling better?"

Shelby tugged the towel backwards off the teen's head, revealing timid brown eyes glistening with guilt and confusion.

"Mom, did you...did you h-hear what I said?" Rachel stammered uneasily.

"Yes, I heard you," Shelby said, wrapping the towel around Rachel's shoulders and moving her hands up and down to dry her arms. "You threw up, Rach. My main concern right now is how you're feeling. Do you still feel sick?"

"N-No, I—I feel fine now," Rachel answered, touched by her mom's compassion. Cheeks grew warm with shame and she silently scolded herself for ever thinking her mom would just grab her and start spanking. That wasn't how Shelby operated; she always made sure that Rachel understood what she had done wrong and knew how much she was loved before moving onto any punishment.

Shelby was relieved to hear Rachel wasn't feeling sick anymore, but that meant she now had time to allow her disappointment and anger to sink in as she finished drying the girl off. She helped her daughter step out of the tub and then turned to grab her clothes. When she turned back around, Rachel was shifting from foot to foot and kept giving her anxious glances.

"I'm so sorry, Mom. For everything. I—I lied to you and snuck a-around. I did everything I promised I w-w-wouldn't. I lied all weekend and I k-know that was m-ma-manipulative. I sh-should have told you yesterday but I was just t-trying to get out of tr-trouble. I'm so sor—sorry, Mommy. I know I should have t-told you sooner," Rachel said, the words pouring out as she began crying yet again.

Shelby sighed and passed her daughter the fresh pair of undies, holding her steady as Rachel stepped into them. She then pulled the shirt down over her girl's head and waited as the teen put her arms through the sleeves before answering. "Okay, that's enough crying. You've done too much of that today and it stops now," she said in a gentle yet firm tone, not wanting her child to work herself up to the point of vomiting again.

Rachel sniffled and hung her head while she took a few deep breaths to calm herself. Shelby hooked a finger under her girl's chin and lifted up so she was forced to make eye contact.

"Baby, I love you so much. I promise there's _nothing_ you can do that will ever change that," she affirmed with a kiss to a warm forehead.

"I k-know I've d-d-disappointed you and Dad and D-Daddy and made you all so angry."

"I'm certainly upset to learn about your actions this weekend, Rachel, but I'm also _so proud_ of you for telling me the truth. I know how hard that was for you."

"I—I'm sorry, Mom. I know I'm getting a—I mean, you're gonna—" The girl let out a shaky breath, silent tears making tracks down her cheeks. "C-Can we just get it over with now? Please?" Rachel didn't exactly _want_ it to happen and wasn't looking forward to the pain she knew it would bring, but she knew without a doubt that she deserved it. And if she was being completely honest with herself, after all of the guilt and worry she was feeling, it would be a _relief_ to go over her mother's lap. The only real concern she had now was, what implement was her mom going to use on her?

"Do…do you want me to go g-get something? A—a spoon or hairbrush o-or…" What else could she be spanked with, really? Anything, probably…but what were the usual suspects? "A…a switch?" Rachel wasn't even sure she knew what a switch _was_ —a thin stick, she thought, but did it have to come from a certain tree? Face paled as the girl sucked in a sudden gasp. "Please not a belt, Mommy," she pleaded.

" _Honestly_ , Rachel," Shelby chided lightly, rolling her eyes at the girl's dramatics. "I'm not gonna hit you with a belt or a _switch_. Crazy kid," she couldn't help but chuckle as she pulled the teenager in for a much-needed hug.

"We'll take care of everything tomorrow. We both need time to calm down, and it's already almost ten at night. You need to get to bed, little girl," she said, rubbing soothing circles on Rachel's back.

"Aw, Mommy, please," Rachel whined. "I don't want to wait until tomorrow. Why can't you—"

"No arguments, Rachel," Shelby said with a light pop to her child's panty-clad bottom.

Rachel wriggled slightly in mother's arms, letting out a soft whine before giving in and burying her head in the crook of her neck, soaking up all the love being offered.

"Alright, it's getting late," Shelby finally said after several minutes, pulling back and pressing a soft kiss to Rachel's damp hair. "Make sure you brush your teeth again and then come to my room. It's bedtime."

 **Bottoms Up * Bottoms Up * Bottoms Up**

Shelby flopped down on the sofa with a tired sigh and took a long pull from her _Corona_. She had put her daughter to bed twenty-five minutes ago and stayed and cuddled the girl, singing a soft lullaby until she fell asleep. Now it was time to FaceTime Hiram and LeRoy and get them up to speed.

Another swig of the frothy liquid, then the call was made. Shelby waited as her phone chirped; it wasn't long before she saw the two men framed in the phone screen again.

"Oh no, Shelby, what happened now?" LeRoy said in way of greeting. He and Hiram hadn't been all that surprised to see Shelby's name pop up again and shared a knowing sigh.

Shelby wasted no time updating them on their daughter's weekend exploits. "Well shit," Hiram groaned, thinking back on his earlier threat. "Does that mean I have to follow through now? I don't _actually_ want to blister her butt!"

"That's why you shouldn't promise something you aren't prepared to deliver," Shelby countered.

"Hold on," said Hiram, an idea forming. " _Technically_ I told her 'again'—as in future. This is still one incident so…I'm off the hook!" He threw his arms up in celebration, looking to the other two for congratulations on his quick thinking.

"Mmhmmm," Shelby nodded, gracing the gleeful man-child staring back at her with a patented Coach Corcoran glare. "Well _now_ I know where our darling daughter picked up her bad habits from. I've been trying to teach her not to manipulate people or situations and here you are doing it too!"

"And _this_ is why we're so happy you're in our lives. So _you_ can be the hard-ass when the kid needs it. God knows we're not capable of it," Hiram teased, eyes sparkling.

Shelby's stern mask cracked and she burst into laughter, finishing off her beer. She set the empty bottle down on the coffee table and sat back with a long sigh, turning serious once more.

"I'll certainly be playing my role well tomorrow," she lamented. At the questioning looks from the men in her phone, she elaborated. "I told Rachel she'd feel more than my hand on her bare bottom if she repeated any of her recent behavior."

"Are you going to follow through on that?" asked Hiram.

The woman sighed and rubbed a hand over her face. "I have to. I said I would and I've already made it clear to Rachel that I keep my promises. Besides, she's already expecting it. She asked just before I sent her to bed if I wanted her to go get something—her suggestions included a switch or a belt."

LeRoy's face turned ashen as he gasped in an eerily similar fashion to their teenager. "Shelby, you're not seriously going to—"

"God, LeRoy, of course not! Calm down, you old drama queen!" Shelby scolded with a laugh. "You're worse than Rachel!"

"Sorry, got carried away," LeRoy said sheepishly. "I don't envy you that task, Shelbs. I don't have it in me to cause that child any pain. I cry after having to scold her!"

"Well it's no walk in the park," Shelby said as she stood. She needed another beer. "I wouldn't do it if I didn't think it was doing her any good. It's definitely not something I enjoy or want to do often, but I do think she benefits from it."

"We do too, Shelby," Hiram said with sincerity, and LeRoy nodded his agreement.

"We just wish it wasn't needed again so soon. You _just_ spanked her yesterday," LeRoy said.

"She's just not used to following any real rules or being held accountable when she does something wrong, so it's not a one and done thing," said Shelby, taking a large gulp from her second drink. "No offense, guys, but you let that little girl get away with murder." She put her beer on the counter and winked at them.

LeRoy held a hand to his chest, letting out a scandalized, over-exaggerated gasp while Hiram threw his head back and cackled. LeRoy smacked his husband on the arm and leveled him with a mock glare, which only made the other man laugh harder.

"Well…she isn't wrong," he said after he caught his breath.

"Fine. Yes, yes, you're right. We're just big ol' softies," LeRoy conceded. Turning serious, he met Shelby's eyes. "We really are so thankful to have you back in our lives, Shelby. You are a _wonderful_ mother and have done Rachel a world of good—us too."

The woman felt her cheeks warm at the compliment and offered a grateful smile. Her eyes then wandered up to the clock on the wall and sighed. It was a quarter past eleven; she had spent nearly an hour on the phone with the men by now and it was time to head to bed herself.

"Okay, gentlemen, it's past my bedtime. I should get going," she said. "Thanks for chatting with me and cheering me up. I needed that after today."

"Sometimes the only thing you can do is laugh. It'll hopefully all be over tomorrow, right?" Hiram said.

"It sure as hell better be!" Shelby exclaimed.

"Goodnight, Shelby. Good luck tomorrow. Call us if you need anything," LeRoy said, blowing a kiss. "We love you."

"Love you too," the woman smiled and then pressed the red button on her screen. Picking up her drink once more, she finished the rest off in one go. She set it in the sink next to its companion and then turned to the large drawer to her right that housed all of her cooking utensils.

With a sigh, Shelby opened it and began digging. Most of what she had was either stainless steel or silicone—not appropriate for this situation. She knew she had at least one wooden spoon, but was beginning to think she had gotten rid of it when she spotted it all the way at the bottom.

"There you are, you little sucker," she mumbled to herself, holding up the utensil to inspect. She raised the spoon, then swung it down in the air, testing its feel in her hand. It was fairly light. She bounced it off her palm as she let her mind wander. _Will this really even hurt more than my hand?_ she wondered. _Does it need to?_

The mother considered that for a moment. _I want this spanking to be more serious than her last one…maybe just the act of using something more on her will be enough._

There was really only one way to find out, she decided. With a steadying breath, Shelby lowered her sweatpants to her knees and sat down on a kitchen chair. She rubbed the top of her thigh for a moment, wondering if she was crazy, before raising her hand and swatting herself—hard.

"Ah!" she hissed, inspecting the light pink mark she left. She then picked up the spoon, gripping it firmly in her hand as she prepared herself for what she was about to do next.

The first swat was weak and Shelby cursed herself for wussing out. The second try wasn't much better, creating the barest hint of a sting that the woman wasn't sure she hadn't imagined.

"If you're going to do this, you have to do it properly," she scolded herself, and all at once, she was reminded of the very first time she had spanked Rachel. The girl had told her almost the exact same thing that day, and it was the push she had needed to do _what_ was needed.

With that thought firmly planted in her mind, Shelby raised the wooden spoon for the third time. Closing her eyes briefly, she delivered a stinging swat that she _definitely_ felt.

"Ow! Holy _shit!_ " she yelped, tossing the offending tool back on the table. It rattled across the surface a few times before laying harmlessly still. "Fuuucckk," Shelby groaned, rubbing at the pink splotch searing her skin.

The pain peaked around ten seconds and by the time she stopped rubbing, her skin was already returning to normal. "That'll work," she said, standing and righting her pants. Sixteen licks with that damn spoon after a good hand spanking would certainly teach her teenager the lesson she wanted to impart.

 **Bottoms Up * Bottoms Up * Bottoms Up**

Rachel's eyes fluttered in the early morning sun shining through the window. She yawned and rubbed at them for a moment before opening them fully. A few seconds delay, then two things were suddenly very apparent: one, she was in her mother's room—the events of the previous evening came flooding back—and two, she had overslept.

"Shit!" she exclaimed, bolting to sit up as she looked for her phone. She needed to know what time it was so she knew what part of her morning routine she had to sacrifice in order to still make it to school on time.

Unable to find her phone, Rachel twisted her top half to get a look at the digital clock she knew was on her mother's nightstand. 7:08 flashed back at her in blinding red and the girl cursed again. _Why would Mom not wake—_

Her thought was abruptly cut short as she zeroed in on the foreign object sitting smack dab in the middle of that very same nightstand.

 _Shit. Shit. Fuck_ , the words repeated inside her head as her stomach dropped. So _this_ is what her mom was going to spank her with. A shaky hand reached forward and fingers closed around the handle.

The wooden spoon was lighter than she expected and looked far too much like a paddle for Rachel's liking. _That's exactly what it's gonna be once it's in Mom's hand_ , the girl thought ruefully.

She turned the utensil over and over in her hands, studying every inch of it. The whole thing top to bottom was about twelve inches, most of that being taken up by the handle. The head itself was a large oval shape, roughly the same size as Rachel's palm. It wasn't very thick, but the girl didn't think that mattered. In fact, she was pretty sure she remembered reading that the lighter an implement was and the smaller the impact area, the worse it would sting. If that was true, this _thing_ was going to sting something fierce.

Shelby finished sending off the last of her emails to the school with her lesson plans for the subs for each of her six classes that day and sat back in her chair with a sigh. She had already talked to someone in the administration's office at Rachel's school to call the girl out and then sent a text to friend and Carmel principal, Stacy, letting her know that she was taking a personal day but would be in that afternoon for VA rehearsal—Regionals were coming up and Shelby wasn't going to cancel another practice before then, come hell or high water.

Another sigh left the mother's lips as she thought over this morning's task. She really and truly did not want to have to spank her daughter—and certainly not with the wooden spoon she had taken upstairs last night. She hadn't wanted to chicken out at the last minute by having to bring the dreaded thing upstairs while Rachel waited anxiously. But as much as she didn't want to do it, she knew she had to. Shelby had made a promise to her child and had to keep it. It was going to be painful for the both of them, but Shelby hoped it would teach Rachel this lesson once and for all.

Shelby rubbed the back of her neck for a moment, trying to ease the tension building there, before standing and stretching. She closed her laptop as she brought her hands back down to her sides and left the device sitting on the dining room table as she headed for the stairs. If she was lucky, Rachel would still be sleeping and Shelby could crawl back into bed for a few more hours of sleep before really starting her day.

 _Annnd I'm not lucky_ , she lamented to herself upon reaching her bedroom. Rachel was already sitting up in bed and Shelby knew there was no way she'd be able to talk the girl into a few more hours of sleep. Not with everything they had hanging over their heads.

"Hey, Rach, what are you—" The words died on her lips as she stepped into the room and got a good look at her child. She suddenly realized the girl was sitting there holding the spoon and was so focused on it that she hadn't heard Shelby's footsteps approaching.

Rachel jerked at the sudden noise and the spoon went flying from her sweaty fingers, landing halfway across the room with a clatter. "Holy shiiii—" she broke off when she realized the source of the noise was her mother and eyed the woman nervously.

"Man, I'm gonna have to start wearing a cowbell around my neck so I don't scare you all the time," Shelby tried for some levity as she moved to pick up the fallen utensil and return it to the nightstand.

"Mom, I-I'm sorry I overslept. It won't take me long to get ready for school, I—You're not gonna, you know… _now_ , are you?" Rachel gulped and once more saw Santana easing onto her chair in her mind's eye. "Mommy, you _can't!_ " she gasped, heart racing.

"Rachel, you're not—"

Panicking that her mom thought she was arguing, the teen was quick to explain. "I know, I don't make the rules and don't get to decide on my punishments—I _swear_ this isn't like that. I-I'm not trying to be m-manipulative, Mom. Just please, _please_ don't do it before school."

"Rach—"

"I'll be sore all day! I won't be able to sit and e-e-everyone will know!" the girl continued, not hearing Shelby's interruption.

"Baby, no one's going to know besides you and me," Shelby soothed as she sat on the bed and reached for the girl, wanting to pull her close.

Rachel allowed her mom to draw her in but shook her head the whole time, blinking back tears. "But Santana—"

"We're staying home today so we can deal with this and then—What about Santana?"

"We're staying home?"

Mother and daughter had been speaking at the same time and now wore matching confused expressions as they waited for the other to explain. After several seconds of silence, Shelby decided she better go first.

"Yes, we're staying home. I didn't want to have the spanking hanging over our heads all day and I thought we could both use a bit of a break once it's over," she said.

"Oh," Rachel sighed, relieved and even touched that her mom was doing that for her.

"Now what were you trying to say about Santana?" Shelby asked.

The teen blushed but told Shelby of Brittany's inadvertent loose tongue and how the rest of the Glee Club laughed at Santana. She mentioned that the laughter had been short lived for the popular girl but it wouldn't be the same for her. "I saw how she sat in her chair, Mom—it's exactly how I do it when I'm still sore. She was _clearly_ still sore after twelve hours!"

"I promise no one will see if you squirm on your chair today except me and I won't laugh—and there's no way you'll still be sore more than a few hours later, let alone twelve," Shelby reassured her child. She didn't _actually_ believe the other girl had still been sore so long afterwards but she understood that Rachel was nervous and wanted to ease her worries.

Rachel huffed and gave her mom a sidelong glance, highly skeptical. How would _she_ know?

"Alright, there's a lot we need to talk about, Rach. How 'bout we—"

"I have to go to the bathroom!" Rachel said in an urgent tone.

"O-Okay," Shelby said, alarmed at the suddenness of her daughter's need. "You aren't feeling sick again, are you?"

"No, I just really need to pee," said Rachel, trying to remove herself from her mother's arms. In truth, while she _did_ in fact have to go to the bathroom, she really needed a minute to herself before what was about to happen, happened.

Shelby withdrew her arm from around her daughter's shoulders and leaned slightly to the right so Rachel would have an easier time crawling off the bed. She then adjusted the pillows to be more comfortable against the headboard and waited for her child to return.

Rachel had taken as long as she dared in the bathroom and went back out to her mother with a grim determination. _Just get it over with, you can do this,_ she encouraged herself. Her eyes met her mom's for the briefest of moments and she suddenly wished she could go back in time to before any of this happened.

"Come here, Rach," Shelby said after several seconds had passed and the girl had yet to move.

Rachel sighed and mustered up what little courage she had left to walk back over to the bed. She stopped on the left side, taking a moment to gather her nerves. Then, before she could chicken out, the girl hooked her thumbs in the waistband of her panties and yanked them down as fast as she could. She was on the bed and over her mother's lap before they had even hit the floor.

Shelby barely had time to register what Rachel was doing before the girl was over her lap, her bare bottom just peeking out from under the hem of her nightshirt.

"Wha—Rachel, sweetheart, we need to talk first," Shelby overcame her momentary surprise, patting the girl's bottom gently to encourage her to sit up. "Rachel," she tried again, this time in warning.

"Mommy, please. Please don't make me wait any longer," Rachel begged, the first tears leaving wet trails down her face.

"I'm not trying to drag this out, love, but we need to talk so I know you understand everything you did wrong and how to make better choices going forward," the mother answered, tone gentle.

"But I understand!" Rachel cried. "I lied to you all weekend. I just t-told you whatever I needed to so I could do what I wanted. I know that I was being manipulative and sneaky and—and dishonest. And I had a party and listened to my friends and s-stole…" The girl sighed at this point, remembering how adamant she was just a day and a half ago that she hadn't stolen from her fathers, but realizing now that she had—and _apparently_ , it was going to cost her more than the forty or so dollars she had originally assumed. "…daddies' alcohol and…and got drunk. Please, Mom. I get it. Can we just get it over with?"

Shelby sighed and rested her hand on the bottom in front of her, thinking. Gone was the Rachel from the other day, the girl who tried to argue and whine her way out of going over her mother's lap. Her daughter's behavior today reminded Shelby of the way she had acted that day in October when she had asked—begged—for a spanking. That day, the guilt of Rachel's actions were eating away at her and she needed her mom to step in and give her a consequence, and with it, absolution. It was exactly what Rachel needed now as well.

"You've already been punished for stealing your fathers' alcohol, so that's not one of the reasons you're being spanked today," Shelby was quick to clarify. "As for everything else—"

"Mommy," the teenager whined, interrupting. " _Please_."

"Okay, Rach, but we're going to talk about everything afterwards, got it?" Shelby conceded, removing her hand just long enough to push her girl's shirt up and out of the way. She gave her bottom several firm taps to make sure she had the child's attention, then continued, "Before we do this, is there _anything_ else you need to tell me about this weekend or the past few days? Tell me now if there is, Rachel. If I find out about it later, I'll consider that a lie and we will be right back in this same position, only next time it will be double what you're getting today."

Rachel squirmed under the weight of that hand and its silent promise of the pain it would soon bring as she took in her mother's words. She had no doubt the woman would do everything she said—Rachel had learned the hard way that her mom always followed through.

The girl racked her brain trying to think of anything she may have missed telling her mom about recent events. She was pretty sure she had confessed to everything, except maybe—

"There—there was never a science project," she offered.

Shelby smiled as she shook her head and rolled her eyes good-naturedly, glad that Rachel was facedown over her lap and couldn't see her reaction. The mother had suspected as much and while that wasn't _exactly_ what she had meant when she asked if there was anything else to tell, at least the teen was taking it seriously; that's really all she wanted.

"Thank you for telling me, baby," Shelby said in a serious tone. "Anything else?"

Rachel wiggled nervously, her mother's hand resting once more on her exposed bottom and feeling warm against the coolness of her own skin. It only served to remind the girl that her backside was about to feel a lot warmer in the next few minutes.

"N-No…no, ma'am," she squeaked out, the title coming easier now than it had the night before.

Shelby rolled her eyes at the honorific, wanting to make a joke about being far too young for that, but thought better of it. The time for joking was over and Shelby needed to set the tone for the next part. But before she did that, she wanted to make sure Rachel knew one more thing.

"Rachel, I want you to really hear me when I say this," she said. "Are you listening?"

Rachel tensed at her mother's words but nodded and whispered out a quiet, "Yes."

Shelby started to rub soothing circles on the girl's bottom before moving upwards to do the same on her back. "I love you so much, Rachel. The last few days have been hard on both of us, and I don't enjoy having to be a hard-ass with you—I'd much rather get to play and have fun with you—but I wouldn't trade this role I have in your life for anything. I absolutely _love_ being your mom, sweetheart, and I always will no matter what. I'm disappointed by your actions but so incredibly proud of you for telling the truth. That took a lot of courage and I appreciate it."

Rachel buried her face in her hands, completely overwhelmed by the sheer amount of love emanating from her mom right now—and it was all for her. It was better than anything she had ever imagined her mother to be all of those times she thought about the woman growing up. Now she was here and even in this moment, as Rachel lay over her lap about to be punished, Shelby was speaking so kindly to her and telling her how much she was loved. Shame then crept in over her recent behavior and she cried out her feelings, apologizing over and over again.

"I know you're sorry, love. We're going to take care of it now and then it'll all be behind us. We can move on," Shelby said, trying her hardest to remember this is what Rachel needed. They needed to get through the next few minutes and then it'd all be over. _You have to be the hard-ass right now, Corcoran,_ she added to herself.

Taking a few deep breaths, Shelby reached over to the nightstand and grabbed the dreaded spoon, tucking it just behind her on the bed for later. She felt Rachel stiffen as she did so and rubbed the girl's back for a moment to calm her. Right arm came to wrap around the girl's waist, both for comfort and to hold her in place, and left hand rested once more on the pale bottom.

"Okay, Rachel, I'm going to start with just my hand and give you a full spanking like I normally do. Then I'll pick up the spoon and you'll receive sixteen swats with it—one for every year of your life," Shelby explained upfront, not wanting it to come as a shock to the girl later. Another deep breath to steel her nerves, then, "Are you ready?"

Rachel's stomach dropped at her mother's pronouncement and it took everything in her not to jump clear off the woman's lap in that moment. She wanted to scoff and ask her mom if she _still_ thought she wouldn't be sore twelve hours from now after what she had planned, but the only thing that came out was a choked sob.

Shelby's heart went out to her child, but she raised her hand, letting it hang in the air for the briefest of moments, and then brought it down with a resounding smack, right in the middle of Rachel's left cheek. A second swat, just as hard, landed on the girl's other side directly after.

"Ah!" Rachel gasped, shocked at the intensity of the first two swats. She wasn't sure if her mom was spanking harder this time or it just _felt_ that way because of all the guilt that had been building up inside her since the previous night. Either way, it really hurt!

Shelby sighed softly and set a steady pace, spanking slowly and methodically to warm the girl's skin. Once bottom and thighs sported a uniform pink blush, she increased the strength but not the tempo and focused on the same spot for two or three swats before moving onto her next target.

Rachel clenched her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut, grunting and hissing when she wasn't yelping out an almost continuous string of "ows". Her butt stung and she was pretty sure her mom was deliberately going slow so she could only focus on the pain.

Shelby turned now to the girl's sit-spots and thighs and made sure to give them some much-needed attention with sharp swats that had Rachel bucking over her lap and reaching back.

"Ow, Mommy, no! That h-hurts!" child whined pitifully, pulling at mother's heartstrings.

"I know it does, sweetheart, but when you lie and manipulate, that hurts others," Shelby forced herself to say when what she really wanted to do was pick the girl up and hold her close. But this was a lesson her child needed to learn and learn well. She caught the girl's hand in her own and held it out of the way, squeezing gently in reassurance.

"I-I'm sorry! Please, Mommy. 'M s-s-sooorrryyy."

Shelby sighed, trying to close her ears to her daughter's cries. This was hurting her too. Her stomach clenched knowing they were far from done and hating that she'd be the cause of even more tears for Rachel before it was all said and done.

"I want this to be the last time we have to address these behaviors, Rachel. Do you hear me?" the mother asked as she moved back to the fullest part of the teen's bottom to began another circuit. The swats fell faster now, painting the bottom a darker shade of pink.

"Owwhoww! Y-yes! Yes! Last time—OW!—I promise!" Rachel's tears picked up the pace when her mother's hand did and she fought harder to wiggle away from the growing sting.

"No more lying, manipulating others, or sneaking around to do what you want, Rachel. It stops here," Shelby scolded, adjusting the girl's hand in hers so she could wrap her arm more securely around the small waist.

Rachel wiggled and cried harder as her mom drew her closer to her body, stomach dropping at the implication of that move. Things were about to get a whole lot worse for her.

"I promise! I p-promise!" she squealed as the hardest swats yet hit her sensitive sit-spots.

Shelby stilled her hand, resting it atop the warm and rosy bottom in front of her. She let the teen cry for a minute or two and calm down a bit. She needed the girl to be able to really focus on what she was about to say.

"You've made that promise before, sweetheart, and yet here we are," she said sadly, giving the girl a firm pat for emphasis, making her wiggle. "It's bad enough you lied to me all weekend about where you were and what you were doing. But then you had several opportunities to tell the truth. I know I asked you directly on Monday if you had lied about being at Kurt's all weekend and you said no—in fact, you were deliberately manipulative with your words that day. You had another chance on the phone with your dads last night. You continued to lie. Lying is never okay with me, kiddo, and I _truly_ hope you learn that after this spanking. I don't want to repeat it but I will if I have to."

Mother paused to let her words sink in, listening as her child's tears turned remorseful. "We wouldn't be here right now if you had told the truth from the very beginning, Rachel. Do you understand that? You would have still gotten that one spanking on Monday and it would have been over. Now you are on your second spanking in less than forty-eight hours, and it is because you lied to me."

Rachel's heart sank at her mother's words; she had thought those very same things the night before but having her mom say them out loud made it all the more real for the teenager. She dropped her head onto the bed and cried out her own disappointment with her actions.

"I'm sorry, 'm sorry, s-s-sorry, sooorrryyy," she wailed, her apology turning more incoherent with each repetition.

"You could have avoided this by being honest," Shelby reiterated. "I promise you, Rach, honesty will _always_ be your best option with me. It won't always earn you a reprieve from consequences, but it will lessen the severity of them. I want you to know that as hard as I'm coming down on you now, I did take into account that you told me the truth before I could find out myself. I'm proud of you for taking responsibility like that. And it's because you told the truth that you are only receiving sixteen swats with the spoon. Had I found out on my own, you would be getting _at_ _least_ double."

Rachel kicked her right leg against the bed with nervous energy as her mom spelled it all out for her. She didn't feel that the woman was giving her much of a reprieve for telling the truth. It was certainly better than thirty-two whacks with the spoon, but Rachel was pretty sure sixteen was still gonna suuuuck. Oh, _why_ hadn't she just come clean at the beginning?

Deciding she had said enough on the matter, Shelby raised her hand and, ignoring the tearful whine from her child, picked up where she left off on the girl's sit-spots.

Rachel yelped and twisted her hips back and forth in an attempt to avoid her mother's steel-infused hand. It didn't help; her mom found her mark every time and Rachel earned herself a few well-placed swats to her even more sensitive thighs for all her trouble.

"Owwwhooww! OW! M-Mommy, nooooo," the girl let out her first true sob, legs kicking frantically to try to ease the pain. This was awful and her mom just kept raining down swats. At this rate, Rachel wasn't going to be able to sit down the rest of the _week_ —forget about the rest of the day.

"I-I'm s—sorry! Ow! OWW! Sor-ry. P-Please no mo—more!" Legs stilled and Rachel slumped over her mother's lap, worn out and crying for all she was worth.

Shelby had tears threatening to fall as she landed one last spank onto her daughter's red bottom. She could feel the heat rising from the skin—and they still weren't finished. Cursing herself for _ever_ having made that threat, the mother slowly reached for the dreaded implement. She hated herself in this moment but she couldn't back down. Not now. Rachel needed her to follow through—she might not understand that now, but she would someday. When Rachel grew up to be a kind and honest adult, this would all be worth it. Hell, if Rachel learned _today_ not to lie or manipulate anymore, it would be worth it.

Rachel was just catching her breath when she felt the smooth, cold surface of the wooden spoon on her burning cheeks. It almost felt good, the coolness taking a bit of the heat away, but the girl knew that was a fleeting comfort. The moment that spoon lifted, it would deliver a fire of its very own to stoke the inferno already blazing across her backside.

Shelby took a deep breath, holding it for a few seconds before letting it out in a long, sad sigh. "Lying is wrong, Rachel. Manipulating people and sneaking around is wrong. That behavior can even be dangerous—as it was this weekend. Party and drinking aside, you allowing me to think you were somewhere you weren't all weekend is dangerous. You're sixteen, Rachel Barbra. You are a child and as your parent, I need to know _exactly_ where you are, who you're with, and what you're doing at all times. That's nonnegotiable. What if something had happened? I had no idea where you really were. Never again, Rachel. Do you hear me? _Never_ again."

The mother gave the bottom in front of her several firm taps to emphasize her point, watching as the girl jumped and wiggled in nervous anticipation of what was to come.

"Yes, yes, I s-swear! I—I'll never lie or s-sneak around again. P-Please, Mommy, I'm s-so sorry!"

"Let's finish this up, Rach," Shelby said, heart breaking at her daughter's cries.

"No, n-no, Mommy, please, I—OWWW."

The first swat with the spoon was like an electric shock. Rachel cried out the moment she heard the sharp crack of wood on skin; the sound reverberated in her ears seconds before the pain was actually felt. The sting itself wasn't much more than the one she felt from her mother's hand, but it was concentrated in a smaller area on impact, so that made it worse.

Shelby wasted no time and landed the first six swats in close succession. She wanted to get this over with just as much as Rachel did. Her daughter's yelps and cries were breaking her heart. _Ten more, just ten more,_ she repeated for herself.

"OW! OWW! Ma—AH! Maamaaaaa!" Rachel wailed, squeezing her mother's hand that still had a firm grip on her own.

Shelby had almost stopped then and there. She had managed to deliver four more swats, all to the girl's sit-spots, when the girl called her 'Mama'. The tears she had been trying so hard to hold back spilled from long lashes to form rivers down her cheeks. She was used to her child calling her 'Mommy'—she could ignore 'Mommy' in order to do what was needed. 'Mama' was a different matter completely. 'Mama' was what she had always imagined a baby Rachel calling her. 'Mama' was heart wrenching—especially the way her child sobbed it out.

The mother couldn't bring herself to cause her child any more pain, but she also couldn't in good conscience stop before her promised sixteen swats. She needed Rachel to know that she was serious and would do what she said, no matter what. Still, perhaps she could compromise.

"We're almost done, baby. Six more," she choked out, raising the spoon for the eleventh time. She let it land on the girl's cherry red bottom with a light tap.

"OW!" Rachel cried out in reflex before realizing there was no accompanying sting. Another swat landed just the same and it clicked for the girl that her mom was giving her an even bigger reprieve than originally planned. That realization made her sob ten times harder.

The last four swats were delivered and Shelby threw the spoon across the room and then scooped the sobbing girl off her lap.

Rachel barreled into her mom, arms wrapping around the woman's shoulders as she buried her head in the crook of her neck. It wasn't the most comfortable position—she was kneeling on her mom's left side, her top half bent forward to lean into the hug. She knew she wouldn't be able to stay like this for long, but Rachel couldn't wait to be in her mother's arms even a second longer.

Shelby wrapped her arms around her child, rubbing the girl's back and letting her cry it all out, crying right along with her.

Eventually the pair slid down on the bed so that Shelby was on her back with Rachel sprawled out on her stomach, head resting on her mother's chest. The girl's left arm was wrapped around Shelby's waist, fingers tangling into the hem of her T-shirt. Rachel was still crying, but less so, and Shelby had gotten her own tears under control some time ago. The mother would wait as long as necessary until Rachel decided she was finished. They didn't have anywhere to be until this afternoon, so Shelby would sit and hold the girl all day if she had to, if that's what it took to make her child feel safe and loved.

"I-I'm s—sorry I lied to you, Mom. And snuck around and had a—a party," Rachel sniffled, rubbing her nose on her mother's shirt sleeve. "Am I in trouble for that? The—the party I mean? And, uh…drinking?" She buried her head back into her mom's neck, afraid of the answer to come. She just hoped it didn't cost her another week from Glee. At this rate, she'd _never_ get to go back.

"I'm not happy about the party or you drinking, and I _certainly_ don't want it to happen again…but I get it. I remember what it was like to be your age. I understand being curious and wanting to experience this rite of passage," Shelby said and Rachel tensed as she waited for the 'but'.

Shelby rubbed the girl's back, smiling as the small body relaxed under her gentle touch. "You aren't in trouble with me over the party. We _will_ be having a long conversation about the dangers of alcohol at some point today, but that will be the end of it as far as I'm concerned. Whether or not your dads want to add further consequences is up to them. I know they already told you that you'd be replacing what was taken out of your allowance. I'll take you over to the house after we're dressed and ready so we can get a list together. Then we'll call your dads and go from there."

Rachel went from apprehensive to relieved and back to apprehensive in less than a minute. It gave her whiplash and she groaned, curling further into her mom's side as she worried over her fathers' reactions. Would her dad really spank her too? He had threatened to if Rachel ever touched their alcohol again. Would he consider this to be "again"?

"Okay, sweetheart," Shelby began, hand moving to soothe a tender bottom, "Are you ready to get up? We can stay and cuddle a bit more if you'd like, but I'm gonna need some breakfast soon."

The girl's stomach rumbled in response and both mother and daughter laughed; all at once the atmosphere lightened and they were back to normal.

"Do you want to go out to breakfast? We could go to that vegan bistro you like so much," Shelby offered.

"Yeah! Can we?" Rachel said, eyes lighting up. The excitement was short lived though as reality settled on her shoulders once more. "Wait, we can't. I—I won't be able to sit." Rachel blushed and sighed, scooting backwards to the edge of the bed. She stood and wiped at the lingering tears with the back of her left hand while right reached behind to inspect warm and stingy skin.

Shelby tilted her head and gave her daughter a sympathetic look as she scooted off the same side of the bed. Standing, she wrapped Rachel in her arms and placed a kiss to bedhead hair. "Maybe we can go to brunch instead," she suggested, pulling back to cup the teenager's face.

"I'll still be too sore by then," the girl pouted.

"What time is it?" Shelby turned to look at the clock, then back to child. "If we went at eleven-thirty or twelve, you shouldn't be. That's almost four hours from now."

Rachel gave her mother a disgruntled glare, not believing for a second that she wouldn't still be sore by then. Shelby may not realize it, but she hit _hard_. Rachel knew. She was going to be sore all day. She was sure of it.

* * *

 **A/N: That's it for this chapter. In the next we'll see S R go to the dads' house and S sees just how much alcohol her kid and friends went through. I'd also like to include a scene back at Carmel to at least finish Rachel's lines. And only other scene that I really want to see happen is a conclusion with a happy ending with the dads coming home. That said, if there is anything you think needs to be added or you would just like to see happen, please let me know! AND if you have any ideas for a continuation of this story/stories in this universe,** _ **definitely**_ **let me know! I really enjoy this Shelby/Rachel dynamic and would love to explore more with them!**


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